As our cities densify and building types become more and more mixed-use, we tend to spend a lot of time in noisy environments. When we think about acoustic comfort, we rarely think of places like restaurants, venues, and big offices; places with a lot of people, machinery, and background noise. The quality of sound can entirely change the experience of people in an interior space, and improving the space's acoustic quality relies on treating all surfaces, from walls to ceilings, and flooring. In this article, we will present a variety of solutions for ceilings, flooring, and walls, their different combinations, and a simple guide of how to apply them correctly in public spaces without compromising the aesthetic of the interior.
Acoustics is a very complex field, and ensuring an acoustically-comfortable environment depends on its function, how many people are occupying the space, and what it requires in terms of spatial configuration. When it comes to public spaces, designing a perfect acoustic enclosure is very challenging, since the space is overwhelmed with a compilation of chatter, background music, street noise, and machinery sounds, to name a few, making it very difficult to filter out and select what we want to hear. Consequently, poorly designed public spaces impact the productivity and wellbeing of individuals spending time in that space. Oftentimes, creating acoustically comfortable environments is relegated to cinemas, concert halls, and recording studios, spaces that require “noise-reduced” environments, but other public facilities such as schools, hospitals, and sports venues, require just as much consideration when it comes to acoustic comfort, taking into account the walls, ceiling, and flooring while designing the space.
