Solving boardroom noise issues with sound absorber panels

Hush Acoustics has improved the acoustic environment within its own HQ boardroom by installing its high performance Class A sound absorber panels.

The 31 sq. m boardroom at its Sheffield site had been left relatively untouched since the company moved into the premises in 2022 as it focused on developing its production facilities and creating a high quality environment in its main open plan office area. As usage of the boardroom has steadily increased, however, improving the environment become a higher priority.

Like many boardrooms, conference rooms and meeting rooms, the key issue being experienced was reverberation – this is where soundwaves reflect off hard surfaces back into the room to create an often unbearably noisy environment.

This meant the room was a less than ideal setting for routine activities, such as meetings around the table and virtual meetings conducted through the room’s large screen and audio system, due to poor speech intelligibility resulting from the excessive background noise.

The Hush team started the process of addressing the problem in the same way that they would with every client reverberation project by conducting a survey of the room and gathering accurate dimensions. This information was used to obtain the necessary acoustic calculations to determine which type of absorber panels would be most effective, the quantity and positioning.

The reverberation time (RT60) prior to the work commencing was estimated at 3.5s. This is a level that is far higher than what would be recommended for meeting rooms in new build or conversion projects, because in an acoustic environment with these levels of reverberation it can be very difficult to hear what others are saying, compromising the core purpose of the room.

A total of 28 Hush Absorber 50 panels, 12 of which were sized 1200x600x50mm and sixteen smaller panels measuring 600x600x50mm. The larger absorber panels were mounted on the walls, whilst the smaller panels were installed on both the walls and ceiling. In order to maintain aesthetics within the boardroom, the larger absorber panels were wrapped in an indigo blue coloured fabric to create a decorative feature, while the smaller panels were finished in a white fabric to blend into the décor.

Post installation testing revealed the significant improvement that the sound absorber panels have made. Reverberation time was recorded at just 1.0s, meaning that the improvements were instantly noticed by members of the team and the boardroom is now far more popular with users as it better fulfils its potential.