Ecophon Acoustic Bulletin

As a complement to an acoustic ceiling it is sometimes useful to attach absorbing panels to the walls. This could be the case when a disturbing flutter echo is present or expected and gives an unpleasant coloration to the sound. Another situation is when the amount of sound diffusing objects is small, resulting in long reverberation times. A sometimes ignored fact is that the main complaint in many public premises for education and child-minding is the high noise levels. In these cases it is not enough to only consider that a certain reverberation time is achieved. Different acoustical treatment can give similar reverberation time but significant differences concerning the ability of reducing the disturbing noise. Concerning noise levels in rooms and it's relation to the absorption it is mainly the amount of absorption that is of importance. This relation is not true for the reverberation time. Thus, wall absorbers are an excellent tool to create good and pleasant acoustical environments. Attaching the wall absorbers in a non-regular pattern could also be a benefit since this will increase the sound diffusion in the rooms which is desirable and good for the acoustics.

More information about wall absorbers? Continue here

Posted by Erling Nilsson at 1:31 PM | Permalink

In the latest issue of Acta Acoustica united with Acustica, Eddy Gerritsen (TNO) discusses engineering methods for the prediction of reverberation time and sound pressure levels in spaces with non-diffuse conditions. The assumptions and theoretical considerations behind the formulas in EN 12354-6 annex D are clarified.

There is definitely a need for engineering models to estimate reverberation time and sound levels in this large group of rooms where the acoustical treatment consist of an absorbent ceiling. The discrepancy between Sabine calculations and measurements in e.g. classrooms, offices, day-care centres among others, are well documented. So, if you are interested in this matter I recommend you to read the article.
The abstract is available here.

Posted by Erling Nilsson at 2:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (15)

Thanks to an ambitious education initiative from the Swedish government, deaf children in Banja Luka, Bosnia, were provided with cochlea implants.

As soon as they have been able to hear, the very poor room acoustics of the school became an obstacle to the children's further learning.

Continue reading "When children start to hear, room acoustics becomes critical" »

Posted by Pierre Chigot at 1:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)

When the Dutch energy company Essent refurbished one of their open plan offices, it was decided that the room should be separated in several zones.

Continue reading "XL size office screens" »

Posted by Pierre Chigot at 9:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (16)

In 1999, acoustics expertise (incl. Delta and Carl Bro) was contacted to evaluate, measure and simulate the acoustics of the glass-roofed Sculpture Street at the New Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen, Denmark.

Continue reading "From 11 to 3 s - extreme reverberation control" »

Posted by Pierre Chigot at 11:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The acoustic treatment of the Henriksberg pub and restaurant won a prize for best practice at European Noise at Work Summit, 12 December 2005. Watch the video of the presentation.

View the Ecophon solution for the project (NB: different conditions might require adjustments of the solution. We recommend to involve an acoustics consultant)

Continue reading "Challenging acoustics in music clubs" »

Posted by Pierre Chigot at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (19)

World Health Organization - Guidelines for Community Noise is a systematic review of scientific evidence regarding noise, annoyance, speech and hearing impairment. The document provides also relevant guideline values.

Continue reading "Looking for criteria?" »

Posted by Pierre Chigot at 3:29 PM | Permalink

Warehouses being transformed into restaurants, workshops into boutiques and country houses becoming conference centres – there are many examples of completely new fields of use for fine old properties that possess genuine charm.
However, long reverberation time and poor speech intelligibility is often a fact in these premises!

In such premises, specific room acoustics solutions are needed.

Continue reading "Discrete acoustic solution for old and genuine premises" »

Posted by Annica Rüsslander at 2:26 PM | Permalink

Case: Company restaurant, Paris

Continue reading "Meeting architectural and acoustics needs" »

Posted by Fredrik at 3:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Space is not only visual. For acoustician B. Delage, space can be seen as an interaction of both an acoustical and a visual dimension. In this article, he develops his approach around an architectural icon, the Kidosaki House, by Tadao Ando: a good example of how sounds in architecture can touch and provoke us.

Read the article
Author: B. Delage, www.viasonora.com
Publication: Earshot, # 3, UK, 2002

Posted by Fredrik at 3:48 PM | Permalink

This interaction is a central issue in International Standard ISO 17624:2004, Acoustics — Guidelines for noise control in offices and workrooms by means of acoustical screens. Besides silencers and enclosures (see ISO 14163 and ISO 15667, respectively), indoor screens are used as secondary means of noise control in workrooms and offices. Among others, it says “It is the effectiveness of these measures (sound absorbers), and the fittings of the room, which determine the amount by which the insertion sound pressure level difference of a screen in the room is less than the free-field screen sound attenuation”

Contact

Posted by Fredrik at 12:00 PM | Permalink

In a large project in the UK Ecophon Master E was used both for refurbishment and to create new science labs. This product has an excellent sound absorption in combination with efficiency at absorbing low frequency sound.
Read the full story>>

Continue reading "Ecophon Master E in science labs – Scientific test for Ecophon panels" »

Posted by Fredrik at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)