Hush Acoustics improves acoustic environment for retirement village

Residents at a luxury retirement village in Warwickshire are benefiting from significantly improved acoustic comfort in their main social area thanks to the design, manufacture and installation of an acoustic solution by Hush Acoustics.

Lime Tree Village at Dunchurch features a superbly equipped bar and sun room as part of its extensive range of facilities, where residents can relax and socialise. Despite it being a relatively new development, the managers of the complex were receiving feedback from residents that the quality and usability of these rooms was being seriously affected by excessive background noise and sound echoing.

This acoustic issue is common in newly built or refurbished buildings where today’s trends for clean, hard surfaces such as plastered walls and wooden floors increases the risk of sound reverberation. This occurs when sound waves reflect back into the room rather than being absorbed, which is the case with softer materials such as carpets and curtains.

Keen to resolve the issue, the site managers approached Hush Acoustics for assistance. Step one was for Hush to visit the site and undertake an extensive survey of Lime Tree Village’s affected spaces – the sun room and the adjoining bar. 

Hush had previously worked with a member of the retirement village’s management team on very different kind of development but with similar acoustic issues. In this instance, help was needed to correct the echoey environment of a sailing club.

The acoustic survey carried out by Hush at Lime Tree Village quickly revealed the issue – common types of reflective surfaces were indeed responsible for reverberating noise back into the room.

And it was immediately evident that users of the spaces were having to do what most people do in rooms affected in this way – increase their level of speech to try and be heard, which means the issue spirals as everyone attempts to speak over the growing background noise.

The reverberation solution provided by Hush centres on its Hush Absorber 50 sound absorber panels, which are designed to be strategically mounted on walls or ceilings inside rooms affected by excess background noise.

The absorber panels are Class A for the highest sound absorption performance, formed of a 50mm thick acoustic foam which is hand finished in a high quality fabric applied on the face, edges and back.

After the site visit, the Hush team were able to calculate how many panels were needed to control the issue and where they would be mounted. A report was prepared for the retirement village managers with a quotation for the supply and installation of the panels recommended and Hush was commissioned to deliver the solution in November 2022. 

Installation of the Hush Absorber panels was completed in just one day which meant very minimal disruption to the facilities and the improvements were noticed immediately.

A representative from Lime Tree Village comments: “We always aim to create the best quality environment for our residents, so we are delighted that Hush Acoustics has been able to respond quickly to deliver an effective solution for our sun room and bar.

“From the initial enquiry to their recommendations and installation service, the process has been professionally managed throughout, and our staff and residents are delighted with the results.”

Hush Acoustics has been manufacturing high performance acoustic insulation products for more than 30 years. In addition to sound absorber panels, its solutions include an extensive range of fully tested acoustic systems which can be applied to separating walls and floors with confidence to all kinds of new build, refurbishment and material change of use projects.

The company’s wealth of experience and technical knowledge helps specifiers, installers and end users achieve a building design that will not only meet the sound reduction standards demanded by the building regulations, but go a step further and optimise acoustic comfort inside buildings and homes.

Hush Acoustics Ltd
Unit 2, Tinsley Industrial Estate
Shepcote Way
Sheffield
South Yorkshire
S9 1TH

Tel: 0114 551 8685
Fax: 0151 944 1146

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