Removing the echo from a large room is often the first step to achieve a comfortable space for the user. And it is that, when designing large rooms, aesthetics and decoration have traditionally been taken into account but on occasions, perhaps due to ignorance, acoustic comfort has been neglected.
Large rooms such as exhibition halls, dining rooms, waiting rooms, auditoriums, classrooms or offices tend to present an acoustic problem similar to echo called reverberation. The reverberation is that permanence of the sound beyond what it should for a correct hearing and understanding of the message. Explained in a more technical way, the “reverberation time” is the time that elapses until the energy received by the receiver decreases by 60 Db, once the source of sound emission has stopped. Popularly, reverberation in a room is called echo, and the action of eliminating echo is called acoustic conditioning.
What steps should I follow to eliminate echo in a room?
Measure the dimensions of the room
Know the level of reverberation that the room has: to remove echo from a room we must have to reduce reverberation for that we must know the level of reverberation that presents in room. We can find out in two ways: by making measurements with an acoustic specialist or making an estimate with the help of an Optimum Reverberation Time (TRO) calculator like the one offers free of charge on its website.
Identify the areas where we can install sound-absorbing wood acoustic panels: walls, ceilings, columns, etc.
Choosing the acoustic panel model that will allow us to eliminate the echo and get closer to the optimal reverberation time for our room. Again, the TRO calculator can help us to guide us on the most suitable coating.
Choose the finish that best suits the aesthetic style of the room.
How to reduce or eliminate echo from a room
Actually echo and reverberation have to do with the same thing, the time it takes for an acoustic wave to travel to a surface, bounce and reach its emitter again. When the distance traveled by the acoustic wave is long and this trip lasts more than a tenth of a second, we speak of an echo. It is what happens if we shout at a mountain. When the distance is shorter, such as in halls and auditoriums, and the sound is reflected back in less than a tenth of a second, we speak of reverberation. For this reason, many times, when we simply talk about the echo of a room, we are actually referring to the acoustic effect of reverberation.