Hearing sound is a wonderful sensory experience. It allows us to communicate effectively, hear danger approaching, and listen to the music we love. A world without sound would be a far different experience than we&#;re used to. That would catch most of us off guard. But too much sound can be just as off-putting.
The places we live and work in are generally built with lots of flat surfaces. This doesn&#;t do any favors for the acoustics in the room. Sound waves bounce and reflect and cause echo and reverb. Learning where to place acoustic panels will give you the tools you need to tackle these audio issues before they cause problems.
The Problem with Audio Issues
You may not realize it, but many problems you encounter at home or work can be solved quite simply. When we get a group of people conversing in the same room, sound waves can reflect endlessly. This makes the room sound louder and makes communication more difficult.
When sound waves reflect off hard, smooth surfaces, they bounce back into the room. When that sound wave travels back across the room, it creates echo and reverberation. Echo is a familiar phenomenon. Those returned sound waves can be cool when you&#;re playing with them, but they wreak havoc on communication.
As those sound waves return and intermingle with speech, it can be hard to hear what people are saying. Not only that, but if they continue to build in the room, you&#;ll end up with reverb problems. It&#;s a classic example of too much sound in the room.
Reverb occurs when sound waves are allowed to reflect around the room without anything to absorb them. The waves mix and become louder together. As the ambient volume in the room builds, we tend to talk over it to be heard. This only exacerbates the problem. We need to absorb waves to stop audio issues at their source.
How Acoustic Panels Work
Acoustic panels are among the most popular methods when it comes to sound control. They can be used to absorb and redirect sound, and they&#;re easy to incorporate into any interior design scheme. Here&#;s how they work:
The type of acoustic panels most people are familiar with is the type made of dense foam or mineral wool. These acoustic panels absorb a wide spectrum of frequencies, preventing sound waves from returning to the room. They transform hard, reflective surfaces into dense, porous ones. Placing them in the right spots can stop runaway sound waves in their tracks.
Another type of acoustic panel is the diffuser. You may have seen them before without realizing what they were. Diffusers may be curved, angled, or created with several surfaces set at different depths. The purpose of this type of diffuser is to redirect sound waves around the room. Doing so prevents the direct reflections that cause audio chaos.
Some situations require bass traps. This is a type of acoustic panel designed specifically to counteract bass waves. Standard absorptive acoustic panels have trouble with the lowest frequencies, and those low tones make a big noise. Bass traps work by absorbing and equalizing the pressure created by bass waves. These are mostly found in spaces where music is performed or played over loudspeakers.
Now that you know more about them, let&#;s look at where to place acoustic panels and why it&#;s important.
Why Does
Placement of Acoustic Panels
Matter?
Acoustic panels can contribute great things to a room&#;s acoustics, but they have to be placed correctly. They can&#;t absorb what doesn&#;t impact them, so make sure to place panels where sound waves will find them. The more sound waves come into contact with your acoustic panels, the more effective they will be. Don&#;t go too crazy installing panels; however, as this can make a room sound dead. We need a mix of hard and soft surfaces to get the best sound.
Some rooms are primarily plagued by speech noise. Others may have issues with sounds created when multiple people move about. The placement of your panels should reflect your goals. Treating a home studio or theater will look different than treating an office space. Let&#;s take a look at commonly treated spaces and where to place acoustic panels in each.
Where to Place Acoustic Panels
in Great Rooms or Living Rooms
One of the places people generally need acoustic control is in their living room or great room. It&#;s where people gather and it can get incredibly loud without sound control measures. The higher your ceiling, the more pronounced the audio issues will be. This is why proper placement is key to getting the results you want out of your acoustic panels.
The first place that&#;s important to treat is the place where speech waves strike the walls. This usually centers around the 4-6 foot range. That&#;s where most people&#;s mouths sit in space, and direct waves reach the walls at that point. You may want to go low if people mostly sit in the room, and high if they mostly stand. Centering panels at 4-6 feet absorb a good deal of waves and prevent echo and reverb from getting too distracting.
If you&#;ve got particularly high ceilings, it&#;s a good idea to mount some panels overhead as well. Since there is typically very little to absorb sounds overhead, placing panels there goes a long way. You&#;ve got a couple of options when it comes to choosing where to put acoustic panels.
First, you can add some panels higher on the walls. This will allow some reflections to be absorbed instead of continually bouncing around the room. But don&#;t forget the ceiling itself. Mounting a few panels there will change that large, flat surface into one with absorption properties. If you don&#;t know where to place acoustic panels on a ceiling, we&#;ll walk you through a few ways to incorporate them.
Panels Mounted to the Ceiling
The first option is to mount them directly to the ceiling itself. It&#;s simple to do and can add a little variety to your ceiling design. It will also absorb a lot of sounds created below, reducing echo and reverb. The mounting process will look very similar to installing them on walls, but it&#;s a little trickier. If you have particularly high ceilings or don&#;t feel comfortable mounting them yourself, hire someone to help.
Suspended Panels
Mounted panels can be effective, but you may find you get more bang for your buck with suspended panels. You&#;ve got a couple of options here as well. Two of the most effective will be ceiling clouds and a T-grid system.
Ceiling Clouds
Ceiling clouds are a very modern and effective way to absorb sound waves as they pass through space. Acoustic panels are suspended from the ceiling individually. This creates a very cool focal point that catches sound waves before they cross the room. You&#;ve got a lot of color and shape options, so go wild with your design ideas. You can even mount them horizontally, vertically, or at an angle. This option allows you to deliver absorption exactly where you need it.
T-Grid System
Another option for suspending acoustic panels is to use a T-grid system. You&#;ve likely seen them in school or office buildings. A metal grid is suspended from the true ceiling, and acoustic panels are laid into the grid. This is a great option for exposed ductwork or pipes, as it absorbs overhead sounds before they begin mixing. Keeping them from mingling with speech waves makes communication much easier.
Where to Place Acoustic Panels in a Home Office
Another spot people seek sound control is in home offices. Working from home has been a game changer for many in the workforce. Those with children, pets, or roommates, however, find it can be a bit distracting. Here&#;s where to place acoustic panels to quiet the office so you can concentrate.
Placing panels at mouth level works wonders here as well. A good deal of distracting sounds are going to come from speech, so absorbing those waves goes a long way. Center your panels around 4 or 5 feet off the ground. Give those panels a hand by blocking outside sounds before they enter.
You can make your acoustic panels more effective by sealing the gaps around doors and windows. The windows can be easily sealed by running a bead of acoustical caulking around the edges. Caulking will block sound from entering and remain flexible and effective for the long haul.
For the doors, try using a door seal kit with an automatic door sweep. This will seal any gaps around the door itself. That will keep household sounds from entering when you close the door. Following these few simple steps will decrease your stress levels and increase your productivity.
Where to Place Acoustic Panels in a Home Studio
Whether we&#;re recording music or podcasts, acoustic panels are necessary to get great sound. That makes this another common room targeted for acoustical treatments.
The flat walls in homes are not properly equipped to produce perfect sound. To get the most out of them, proper panel placement is key. Some key locations in home studios are behind the speakers, the wall opposite the speakers, and the first reflection points.
Placing panels behind the speakers will prevent immediate reflections from causing issues in your recording. Placing them opposite will help reduce echo and reverb by absorbing the most direct reflections. That brings us to first reflection points.
First reflection points can cause us to hear imperfections that aren&#;t in the mix. Absorbing those reflections is necessary when editing, mixing, or mastering. They&#;re easy to find by yourself, too. You&#;ll just need a helper.
Sit in the place where you usually listen to your mixes. Have your helper hold a small mirror on the side wall at your head height. Have them move it horizontally until you can see the tweeter of the speaker on that side of the room. Place a panel at that location and repeat for the other side.
Where to Place Acoustic Panels in a Home Theater
A home theater is much like a home studio when it comes to deciding where to install acoustic panels. Home theater acoustic panel placement also relies upon tackling reflection points to improve the sound. If you like to listen to movies at a loud volume, you may want to add some panels in the corners to keep the audio contained.
Bass waves tend to gather and linger in corners. Placing panels near the corners will help improve sound and keep the volume under control. A bass trap in one corner will deliver the biggest results, but you can get by with traditional acoustic panels. Place panels at the back of the side walls to get great results.
Use Quality Materials
Now that you know where the best place to put acoustic panels in each room is, it&#;s time to look at your options. Beyond simply knowing where to place acoustic panels, product quality is another variable that greatly affects performance.
Cheap materials may work okay but don&#;t expect them to work wonders. Using higher-quality materials will net you the best results. Be realistic about your expectations. Reach out to one of our reputable dealers and we&#;ll help you achieve your goals on budget.
In design, sound matters. The function of a space is not determined by its aesthetics only but also by the sounds it makes.
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&#;Sound may be invisible or only unconsciously perceived, but that doesn&#;t make it any less an architectural material than wood, glass, concrete, stone or light.&#; &#; Michael Kimmelman.
Sound inextricably becomes attached to function. But because design begins first on paper, it isn&#;t until we inhabit a room that we determine how to relegate noise.
The growing popularity of decorative acoustic felt panel installation proves that balancing the acoustics of a space does not have to clash with its original design elements. Although it&#;s true one size does not fit all when it comes to acoustic treatment, polyester felt is proving to be the choice material for acoustic felt panels by the design industry.
Polyethylene terephthalate, or PET, is a thermoplastic polymer resin comprised of recycled transparent plastics. PET is frequently referred to as polyester in textile applications but retains its acronym PET regarding packaging, bottling, etc.
Polyester was first patented in the s by Dupont chemists in Delaware, U.S.A, as a new textile fiber. It wasn&#;t until the s that new technology made it possible to mold PET into bottles. Today, it is the number one recycled plastic worldwide.
PET is highly flexible in its natural state and therefore easily moldable for its end use depending upon how it is processed. Its applications as the number one recycled plastic range from food packaging and bottling to fabrics to thermoforming in manufacturing and automotive insulation.
The textile industry is a significant end-user of PET, making up about 60% of overall PET consumption.
Polyester felt is made of recycled PET plastics, mostly water bottles or other single-use products. The recycled material is compressed and melted down until left with plastic flakes. The plastic bits are then remelted and extruded as fiber. This fiber is then used to produce rolls or sheets of PET textile material, similar in any felting process. It can contain anywhere from 0% to 100% recycled content. Not only is it sustainable, but it is fast becoming the premium choice for sound dampening performance in lieu of other traditional materials, like fiberglass.
Polyester felt&#;s lightweight durable nature (combined with an additional lower melting point ) create the ideal properties for acoustic felt panel design. Its capability to be easily cut, variety of color options, and limitless forms are making polyester acoustic panels part of the visual landscape in modern interior design.
When we design for sound, we are designing for experience. Before, implementing sound insulation into already existing spaces meant the only solution was to hang unattractive hanging baffles and deal with the eyesore.
Now, polyester felt delivers an appealing design in junction with high-functioning performance rates of acoustic insulation.
There is a symphony of reasons the design industry is choosing polyester felt over any other material; acoustically, environmentally, and aesthetically.
While it is possible, it is challenging to include acoustic design into a space before it has been occupied. In most cases, sound is the last piece an architect will fit into the puzzle. Knowing how a room will be used and where the potential challenges will be for sound issues are essential pieces of the puzzle to negotiate when implementing acoustic solutions. The building layout may not be flexible, but the acoustic solutions can be.
Polyester acoustic felt soaks up ambient noise in a variety of forms. Do you need to mitigate noise in your office conference room? Consider hanging acoustic clouds strategically over spots where noise reflection is at its highest. Are your gym guests experiencing an overload of noise in a large open floor plan? Ceiling baffles would work best here, especially when dealing with higher ceilings.
Using polyester acoustic felt to your best advantage involves finding your key sources of noise and adopting different paneling styles to adapt to the parameters that will help aurally orient your space.
If, as Kimmerman claims, sound is as vital as wood is for building framing, how far can we take acoustic solutions? Structural possibilities with PET are far-reaching. Its flexible form can be bent, molded, and shaped to any design for an assortment of interior applications, including furniture and lighting fixtures. Designers can exercise creative freedom with a host of different color options and texture choices (dependent on manufacturing methods).
Felt itself is a nuanced fabric that works to your elemental design. You can play it safe and subtle, blending your acoustic felt panels into the background or creating statement pieces that accentuate your already developed design theme. Acoustic insulation can be as simple as under-carpeting or as intricate as 3D ceiling baffles.
Ultimately, polyester felt complements a space without compromising it.
It is estimated that Americans alone throw away upwards of 35 billion plastic bottles a year. And subsequently, roughly 8 million tons of plastic end up in our oceans. But a major culprit of waste is the textile industry adding billions of pounds of waste to our landfills and depleting energy and water resources.
Reworking the end-use for so many single-use plastic products (and the proposed 95% of all textiles that do have the potential to be recycled), PET is the friendliest raw material in textile applications (among other industries) as well as the healthiest.
Polyester needle punch felt is manufactured without the demand for any chemical additives like glue or resin to bond the fibers. Furthermore, polyester felt does not give off VOCs or odors. This makes it safe for indoor use (able to meet building standards and certifications) while requiring fewer energy resources in the manufacturing process.
The amount of recycled content in PET material can vary from 0% to 100%, depending on the providing manufacturer&#;s specs and the customer&#;s desire for a &#;greener&#; source. It is not only recyclable at the end of its life but possibly reusable dependent on its modularity.
The acoustic properties of a space have a significant impact on its residents. Managing unwanted noise by integrating acoustic solutions promotes your community&#;s overall wellness and health, whether it be at home or in your commercial office building.
In the acoustic design process, custom is the standard. Finding the best product for your project starts with making the quality choice of polyester felt. At BIT, we manufacture 100% polyester acoustic panels under our Poly-Sonic line. Each panel has a recycled content of at least 60% PET plastic and is made entirely in the US in our facilities.
Poly-Sonic acoustic felt provides fantastic sound quality that is available in any weight, thickness, or color necessary to meet your specialized products&#; demands. We also provide rolled goods that can be molded into any form of acoustic panel solutions or used as a wrapping fabric for other soft-touch surfaces, so the design process is entirely yours.
Acoustics should be a part of your building design, whether you choose to stay traditional or seek out artful installations. Contact us today to learn more about our Poly-Sonic line and how you can begin designing your space for both eyes and ears.
GREAT STUFF;;THANKS SAM
Excellent article.
Very Informative
Is this felt suitable for commercial
Applications in buildings,do you any
Flammability test data on polyester felt
Please share.
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