A case study on how acoustic treatment reshapes a room.
Good acoustics starts with data — not assumptions.
This month, we analysed how acoustic treatment changes the behaviour of a real space, using measurements taken in a real office.
The goal: to show, through a simple before-and-after model, how sound behaves in an untreated room compared to a room with an applied acoustic treatment.
For this case study, we used a typical open-space room:
- Room type: workspace
- Dimensions: 6 × 4 × 3
- Initial condition: untreated, reflective surfaces, long reverberation time
To illustrate this visually, the first 3D model shows the room completely white, empty, and without any acoustic products — a baseline simulation of an untreated space.
RT60 = the room’s echo timer.
It measures how long it takes for sound to decay by 60 dB.
Why it matters:
• higher RT60 → more echo, blurred speech, listening fatigue
• lower RT60 → better clarity, comfort and focus
Recommended values:
• Open-space offices: 0.6–0.9 s
RT60 is one of the key indicators used by acousticians to quantify how “controlled” or “echoey” a room feels.
After analysing the untreated room, we applied an acoustic treatment consisting of:
- wall panels
- acoustic ceiling elements
The goal was to introduce absorption and diffusion in the areas where the room showed the strongest reflections.
The second 3D model shows the same room with these acoustic elements integrated — still white and minimal, but acoustically treated.
After installing the acoustic treatment, we repeated the measurements:
- RT60 before treatment: 1.1 seconds
- RT60 after treatment: 0.5 seconds
A reduction of 0.6 seconds brought the room directly into the recommended acoustic comfort range for office spaces.
In real conditions, this translates into clearer speech, less reverberation, and a noticeably more comfortable environment.
Acoustics isn’t magic, and it isn’t guesswork.
It’s measurable performance — shaped through the intelligent use of materials and well-placed acoustic elements.
Good acoustics doesn’t change how a room looks.
It changes how a room feels.
If you’d like to understand how acoustic treatment could transform your own space, we can measure it and model it — just like in this study.