Acoustic panels are not used for soundproofing. They are used to improve the quality of sound within a room, music studio, school, theatre, church, office, and many other buildings. Here are more details about acoustic panels, including types and styles and what you should expect from them. 

How do Acoustic Panels Work to Improve Sound?

Sound waves travel at 332 metres per second, meaning that the room you are in can be filled with sound almost instantly. A sound wave will reflect back and forth between two walls about 60 times per second. All those sound waves bouncing around between flat walls, ceilings and floors are repeatedly colliding with each other and reaching your ears at different times creating interference patterns that distort the sound you hear.

Each time a sound wave is reflected, it gets a little bit weaker, making the sound you hear even more confusing to your ears.

Absorbent acoustic panels eliminate about 70% of the sound by turning it into heat which dissipates out of the panel. This is a tiny amount of heat that cannot be felt or cause a fire hazard. By eliminating 70% of the soundwave on first contact stops some of it from bouncing back, helping the wave to decay quicker.

Bass traps work in the same manner. Absorbing bass frequencies and dissipating them as small amounts of heat.

Diffusion panels randomly scatter any sound waves that come in contact with them back into the room, breaking up any echoes or standing waves.

Placing Acoustic Panels for the Best Result

For optimal results place your wall panels centred between floor and ceiling. Do not hang panels directly across the room from each other. Install the panels across from a flat section of wall, window, door, picture, or anything else not an acoustic panel.

Any music studio or home theatre should have acoustic panels behind the speakers and on the opposite wall behind the audience. (Again, not directly across from each other.)

Acoustics on the Ceiling

Acoustic panels work really well on ceilings. Usually, above speakers or microphones. They do not have to be fitted across the complete ceiling–just a few inches apart. Absorbent panels are best suited for ceiling. They are lighter than diffusers and diffusers are better suited on the walls.

As with everything installed on the ceiling, they need to be securely fitted and level. We use a combination of hooks and steel wire to hang the panels and can be lowered to different levels for better results.

Acoustics on the Floor

Laminate, hardwood and tile floors look great and add a warm feeling to a room. Unfortunately, they provide another hard surface for sound to bounce off of and create noise disruption within the room. You really can’t put down absorbing foam panels or diffusers on the floor.

Put down carpet or rugs to break up the reflections. As with acoustic panels on the walls, you only have to cover about 30% of the area to eliminate most sound wave reflections.

Although technically not acoustic panels, furniture also works well to absorb

sound waves that hit the floor. Soft furniture like sofas will absorb sound waves. Hard furniture like coffee tables and hard chairs work as diffusers and scatter sound waves around the room.

Types of Acoustic Panels

There are two types of acoustic panels–absorber panels and diffuser panels. To get the best result out of your sound music studio or home theatre, you will need a combination of both. Covering only about 30% of the wall and ceiling area is usually enough to make a good sound improvement to your music studio, theatre, office, school or any area that requires treatment.

Absorber Acoustic Panels

Absorber acoustic panels are designed to absorb some of the sound waves as they make contact with the panel. The purpose of foam acoustic panels is to reduce, but not eliminate resonance in a room. Foam panels control residual sound by absorbing sound waves and dissipating them by turning them into heat.

Bass Traps

Bass traps are also absorber acoustic panels with thicker and heavier materials. Base frequencies are the hardest to deal with. They also tend to gather in the corners of a room. Installing bass traps in each of the corners of a room will help reduce those hard to deal with sounds.

Diffuser Acoustic Panels

Diffuser acoustic panels break up the sound waves that come in contact with them stopping the waves from reflecting back into the room undisturbed and hitting new sound waves. Diffusers are not designed to absorb sound, but rather scatter the waves throughout the room. This means that the listener does not hear a clear echo.

Wood diffusers are one of the best because the sound waves will be scattered by a hard surface in many random directions. Wood Diffusers are made up of a series of wooden slates with dividers between them. The slates are different depths and manufactured to a mathematic formula to achieve maximum results.

Notes

Room acoustics can transform a room and enhance the listening experience for you. Getting the material and positioning of the materials is crucial.

Please feel free to contact us for more advise on products and installation.

0
    0
    Your Cart
    Your cart is emptyReturn to Shop