Solving Audio Challenges in the Modern Workspace
Corporate boardrooms. Modern Offices. Hospitality venues. What do they have in common? They are now incorporating hard surfaces, glass and other reflective properties that can make audio a severe challenge. Designing these rooms is often the priority. Before taking into consideration one of the main purposes of the room, communication. The repercussions are innumerable. Leading to low productivity, focus and concentration issues, employee frustration and over stimulus. Better room acoustics leads to increased employee experience and organizational return on investment. Period.
Alas, there are solutions available that address these problems. Throughout this blog post we are going to discuss these solutions that modern workspaces introduce. So, how do we tackle speech privacy and room acoustics? The two main areas that we are going to explore further together are Acoustic Paneling and Speech Privacy.
Corporate rooms use acoustic panels to help reduce the echo in the room and tackle Speech Privacy & Room Acoustics
Acoustic Panels
Acoustic Panels are aesthetically customizable solutions to the problems that these modern spaces introduce. They significantly reduce ambient noise, minimize echo, and enhance the overall room acoustics when strategically placed. The variance of applications that benefit most from the acoustic treatments are; Huddle Spaces, Boardrooms, Restaurants & Bars, Open Concept Working Environments & All Hands Spaces.
By lowering atmospheric sound pollution, reducing communication errors are substantially. As a result, enhanced intelligibility produces a more comfortable environment for everyone. This is essential in meeting rooms and open office spaces in order to promote work efficiency and connectivity. Similarly, in a restaurant setting this is crucial in order to avoid distraction, attention strain and communication misunderstandings.
Installing acoustic wall panels provide reverberation control within the area they are, allowing it to enhance the quality of sound. In other words, they help decrease noise and reduce echoing.
Decreasing Noise & Reducing Echoing
Acoustic panels will help eliminate echo feedback in a room. Depending on what the room is in use for. The echoing sound can give off turns into an irritating background noise which can be distracting. Have you ever been in a busy restaurant where you are having trouble listening, due to the unwanted ambient noise and echoes from other conversations. Therefore, installing acoustics panels would make a huge audio difference. Reducing the echoes and ambient noise. So, allowing customers to feel much more comfortable and restaurant staff are less likely to mishear a customer’s order.
The echoing sounds given off in hollow or busy spaces generally turn into an irritating background noise that is ultimately engrossing and difficult to ignore. Have you ever dined at a busy restaurant where you struggle to hear and be present due to the unwanted surrounding noise and echoes from other conversations, the kitchen, the bar and music? Carefully placed and installed acoustic panels would be an ideal solution to create a more harmonious environment. Therefore, promoting ease and comfort to the patrons and eradicating communication breakdown with staff.
How do acoustic panels work?
So, how do acoustic panels work? Let’s set the scene. In a standard box room with parallel walls. When creating a sound it will generate sound waves. By reflecting these sound waves back and forth between the walls, this creates a series of echoes called reverberation. Reverberation time is the amount of time it takes for the echoes to fade. Then, by placing a sequence of acoustic wall panels into the space the sound waves will reflect. This will be attained and converted back out of the room. Which then gives the room top sound quality.
Acoustic panels in an open office
Styles of Acoustic Panels
High-quality mineral wool or foam material is what the majority of acoustic wall panels are made from. Either material can reflect sound waves and limit the reverberation time. There are a variance of options ranging from;
- Fabric covered
- Printed Art
- Wooden
Fabric
Fabric covered acoustic panels are designed for a wide range of applications. These can be sold in many different shapes, sizes, and colours. These are great for businesses with a budget and minimal design requirements.
The fabric can be made from recycled materials, which is very popular at the moment. From high quality wool and cotton fabrics. This being said, many fabric covered acoustic panels have a Class A flammability rating. This should be taken into consideration when installing fabric covered acoustic panels.
Art Print
Printed art panels are a great way to add personality and colour to the room. Printed art panels allow you to determine the style which best suits your environment and the tone of the room. It gives you the freedom to use art, photography and, design as an influence. Most panel manufacturers custom print for businesses. For example; hotels, schools, theatres, museums, studios, conference rooms and auditoriums use these types of panels. They do not affect the acoustical performance of the panels due to the design which is a fiberglass mesh. Offices allow sound energy to pass when painted or printed.
Wooden
Strong wooden panels can reduce major sound levels. They also enhance the acoustics in the room. Music recording studios, gymnasiums, lecture halls, and large public spaces are where they are; usually. Wood has proven to strongly absorb sound waves and minimize echoes. Wood is also very durable. Impact resistant acoustic panels can be inside gyms where repeated impact can happen but does not damage the panels. This is a more heavy duty option and can be expensive but worth the return on investment as they do last a very long time.
Other Types of Acoustic Panels
There are also other types of acoustic treatments that can add to a work environment, and to help with sound acoustics and distribution. Ceiling panels, bass traps, and diffusers are another way to enhance the acoustics of a room. Each of these has a specific science to them which helps the acoustics of the room.
Ceiling panels
Ceiling panels are common in large spaces where there is limited wall space for the installation of acoustic wall panels. The way these ceiling tile panels work is actually very clever. They are suspended from the ceiling which allows the sound energy from the room to be absorbed through the panels facing the floor. Many offices with high ceilings use the panels to help reduce the echoing and to minimize the distraction of ambient noise which also enhances the acoustics of the room.
Bass Traps
Meanwhile, bass traps are in the corners of the room. Additionally is because low–frequency sounds can build up pressure wherever there is a boundary. This is where the least amount of space is. Where it is essential to having a perfect listening environment installing bass traps help. For example, in recording studios and mastering rooms.
Diffusers
Likewise, diffusers can encourage a feeling of comfort to the room and a sense of air and space. They are typically wooden and customizing can be an option for a specific room. Diffusers reflect or scatter sound energy depending on the design of the diffuser. These extra additions can low-frequency help control the sound in the room but are not always necessary.
How do Acoustic Panels help with Speech Privacy?
Speech privacy is when unintended listeners are privy to personal and confidential information. This can be a huge issue within business offices and corporate spaces. Nearly 60% of workers are unhappy with the lack of speech privacy in their office. Additionally, according to a recent survey, it is the number 1 driver for workplace dissatisfaction. Taken from Cambridge Sound Management. Lack of speech privacy can really affect the workplace and can negatively affect productivity.
In this day and age, the average office space is now more open and lacks the organic material that absorbs sound. For example, carpets, desk partitions and ceiling tiles. This isn’t just an office environment problem but also is present in the healthcare industry and educational sector. Speech Privacy is measured by its Privacy Index (PI) and is articulated as a percentage. The higher the percentage, the better the speech privacy.
A restaurant using acoustic panels to help create a comfortable environment
In Conclusion
Acoustic Panels are a great way to enhance the acoustics of a room while reducing echoes. This means that the chances of conversations being heard around the office are very slim. Additionally, this decreases interruptions and distractions. Therefore, allowing more work to be done while providing confidence and comfort knowing that their private conversations stay private.
Creating a comfortable environment is is in every industry, from offices to restaurants. Therfore, keeping customers and employees happy and at ease can make a huge difference. Acoustic panels are an affordable, reliable, sustainable way to resolve the echoing or ambient noise issues that occur in corporate and hospitality environments.
Want to learn more?
Do you wish to learn more about how important the audio industry is in the modern corporate world? We have a detailed blog where you can. Click here to read about the true importance of audio.
For all your corporate, hospitality, commercial and educational audio needs, contact the team at Limitless AV Inc. Make sure to follow us on Linkedin, Facebook & Twitter!
