How designer acoustic panels can improve the working environment

Designer acoustic panels can often be mistaken for modern art installations, yet they actually serve a functional and important role at the completion of a wide variety of building projects. Transform Sound UK’s Director, Steven Smith, explains…

There are various types of designer acoustic panels on the market. They come in all shapes and sizes, with different and unique aesthetic and functional solutions, aimed at reducing background noise and reverberation time. They set the tone for the room in which they feature both visually and audibly.

Acoustic panels are commonly used in large offices with solid surfaces, meeting and conference rooms, bars, night clubs, recording studios, home cinemas, village halls, schools, public buildings, canteens and large open living spaces.

With a wide range of designer acoustic panels available, you should be able to use them to find a solution to whatever problem you are looking to resolve, whatever the soundproofing requirements for your building project.

Shaping your room layout without modifying building structure

Open plan offices provide many challenges, sound-wise. Noise reverberation can increase, reducing speech intelligibility and speech privacy, with staff raising their voices to be heard when the office is busy.

As well as ceiling and floor soundproofing, designer acoustic panels can contribute to providing an adequate solution.  

Some panels can be used as an acoustic room divider which allows light, but not sound, to filter through it. They can create room partitions or be installed against a wall to dampen noise. These panels also help reduce disturbing reflections of environmental sounds, such as voices and phones.

Other dividers are more flexible, such as those hung from ceiling rails, allowing you to control space without having to change building structure. They also help to improve the office working environment, making it a more pleasant and productive workplace.

Improving aesthetics with designer acoustic panels

The appearance of a working environment can also be improved for the better with such panels. Public spaces within larger working spaces and public buildings are also enhanced as panels can reflect and absorb sound, creating perfect acoustics and atmosphere for areas where staff interact.

Other panels can be moved around to create different effects. For example, one panel placed vertically reflects sound back and forth whilst when placed horizontally it absorbs the sound.

The visual effect of panels can be important in public facing working environments, such as restaurants, pubs and nightclubs. In restaurants, acoustic panels absorb weak sounds in the upper frequencies 500 Hz and above. They can also be used to improve sound levels eliminating disturbing reflected sound from voices, telephone conversations and computers.