Is office noise hurting your team’s efficiency and productivity? If so, you might want to consider using decorative sound-absorbing panels to reduce noise and benefit your bottom line. Sound absorbing features, with excellent sound-absorbing ratings, can help your office reach peak potential by reducing distraction and easing damaging noise pollution.
Sound Absorption Ratings: What Do They Mean?
NRC rating is the “noise reduction coefficient” which is how much sound an acoustic panel can absorb. It indicates how much quieter a specific product can make your space.
NRC ratings scale from a 0 to a 1. The highest rating of 1 means it absorbs all sound, and the lowest rating of 0 means it absorbs no sound, so for our purposes, the higher the NRC rating, the better. For reference, a standard wall has an NRC of about .05 so it is absorbing almost no sound at all, whereas a typical acoustic panel has an NRC rating of around .8 so it is absorbing 80% and only reflects back 20% of the sound aimed at it.
It is important to note that these ratings are for sound absorption and are not a rating for keeping the sound from being heard outside the room. That is soundproofing, and it uses a totally different rating system and different products. One way to think of this is that sound absorption products dampen the sound in a room to make it easier to hear over noise generated inside the room, whereas soundproofing protects the sound in a room from being heard outside the room.
Do Acoustic Panels Really Work?
Yes, acoustic panels really work! You can be confident in how well sound absorption works using NRC ratings and through your own experiences. If you have ever been in a bare room you know how the sound reverberates. If you can imagine that area now filled with people speaking, you have to listen harder just to hear and you will probably raise your voice and so will everyone else. With effective sound absorption, as we provide from our incomparable suppliers, there will be a noticeable difference in the acoustic clutter. That means employees can improve concentration and therefore improve productivity. Our quality suppliers, like Mergeworks and MPS acoustics, have masterful solutions to these dilemmas that are beautiful or nearly invisible in your office.
When people think of sound absorption they tend to think of ordinary wall treatments. While wall treatments are very effective, the real work is done through a combination of solutions that an expert firm can help you put together. For example:
- Sound baffles hang from the ceiling and decrease reverberations and echoes when hung at sound reflection points. They are an attractive and functional way to handle sound, particularly in areas with high ceilings or when you don’t want to impact the decor.
- Room dividers can not only act as barriers/dividers between desks and cubicles, but they can do double duty providing sound absorption as well. They can even provide a third purpose of social distancing and protection from Covid transmission. These solutions are perfect for a quick and affordable install and work in almost every office situation.
- Sound masking is an amazing technology that can radically improve sound clutter without impacting the physical office at all.
Having a noisy environment is a major drain on concentration and therefore impacts team productivity. We can help with that. If you have a small business in the Mesa area, give us a call and we can help you set up the perfect combination of sound absorption solutions for your workplace. Call us at (602) 840-6678 or visit https://azcorporateinteriors.com/ and schedule a call with one of our helpful consultants.