A few tips for those who love their high ceilings, but dislike echo, poor sound diffusion or other acoustic issues. Ultimately, the most effective way of insulating a high ceiling room from excessive sound reverberation is to address both wall and ceiling acoustics. Here’s a quick snapshot of advice from Kirei President, John Stein, that apply to spaces across the board from hospitality and workplace, to education and retail:
1. Buffer bare walls: “Bare walls reverberate sound very well, which only exacerbates sound control issues in a room with a high ceiling. There are some great materials to apply on walls to reduce the amount of reverberation. Recently, we helped an elementary school with a noisy cafeteria by providing custom cut EchoPanel in the shape of a whale, which improved sound control in a playful way.”
2. Reduce empty space overhead: “Consider a flat ceiling to be the fifth wall in a room. Just as bare walls will bounce sound back into a room, a bare ceiling will do the same. Some common ceiling features such as hanging lights and fans will passively help to control sound. This might be enough for average-height rooms, but for rooms with a vaulted ceiling, you’ll need extra help. Ceiling-mounted products or suspended buffers are specifically designed to control noise overhead, and can drastically help in busy places where noise is overpowering.” We have two (new!) installations that serve as good examples of this point, including how EchoSky improved acoustics at dSPACE, as well as how our EchoStar ceiling system transformed the ceiling of a flexible, open office workspace at McCarthy Construction.
More info at www.kireiusa.com.
