Classroom Acoustics
Clear sound, focused students
Acoustics in Classrooms
Research shows that excessive noise can cause students to miss up to 70% of consonants spoken by teachers, making it difficult to follow lessons and retain information.
Since the introduction of BB93 regulations, schools must adhere to strict sound-level limits to ensure optimal learning conditions.
Resonics have installed acoustic solutions in classrooms across the UK, creating quieter, more effective learning spaces.
Ensures speech remains intelligible, helping students fully engage with lessons.
Reduces noise transmission between classrooms, minimising external distractions.
Lowers background noise, allowing teachers to be heard clearly and students can focus more effectively.
School buildings must adhere to strict acoustic regulations to ensure optimal learning conditions.
Children are much more sensitive to noise when performing tasks, and proper room treatment is essential to optimise learning outcomes.
Reducing Noise in Classrooms
The most effective way to reduce noise in classrooms is by installing acoustic panels on walls and ceilings.
These treatments help control reverberation and improve speech intelligibility. It can also help prevent noise from transferring between rooms, making for a more focused and comfortable learning environment throughout the school.
Need expert acoustic advice?
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Our work in classrooms
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From start to finish we handle everything
Consultation
Our acoustic consultants assess your space on-site (or remotely) and provide a detailed proposal. Every consultation includes acoustic design recommendations, product specifications, and reverberation analysis to ensure measurable improvements.
Assessment
We don’t just identify noise issues — we provide solutions that are cost-effective, design-conscious, and performance-led. Whether reducing echo, improving clarity, or addressing speech privacy, our expert guidance ensures the right acoustic fit for your space.
Design & Planning
Every project includes a tailored acoustic design with a free CAD proposal, showing product placement, specifications, and performance ratings. Our designs can blend seamlessly into interiors or become bold architectural features — always balancing form with function.
Supply & Installation
With over 5,000 projects completed nationwide, our in-house installation teams handle even the most complex acoustic projects. We work to strict health and safety standards, with IPAF-certified specialists, SSSTS/SMSTS-trained supervisors, and all installers CSCS accredited.
FAQs & tips for selecting the right acoustic products
- Think durability: In high-traffic areas, go for stain-resistant, easy-to-clean panels that can handle daily wear.
- Highly absorbent and cost-effective: Choosing highly absorbent panels will help you meet BB93 regulations without blowing the budget.
- Prioritise safety: Make sure all acoustic products meet fire safety standards.
- Use impact-resistant solutions: For sports halls, opt for tough acoustic panels—Super G by Ecophon is a reliable, affordable choice.
Not usually. While it’s tempting to think “the more panels the better”, effective acoustic design is about strategic placement rather than full coverage. The goal is to control reverberation time and echo — once you reach the optimal level, adding more panels won’t improve performance and can make a room sound “dead”.
Our consultants calculate exactly how much treatment is needed based on room size, materials, and usage. Dependent on the existing room surfaces, often 15–25% of the wall and ceiling surfaces is enough. This allows you to integrate acoustic treatment without compromising aesthetics, using panels as design features, artwork, or ceiling elements.
These terms are often confused, but they do very different jobs.
- Soundproofing means stopping sound from leaving or entering a room. This requires heavy, dense construction methods such as insulated walls, double glazing, and specialist membranes.
- Sound absorption (acoustic treatment) means reducing echo and improving sound quality inside a room. This is what acoustic panels, baffles and rafts achieve — they don’t block sound, they control it.
If you want privacy between rooms, you need soundproofing, or sound masking. If you want better speech clarity and comfort within a room, you need sound absorption. Often the best acoustic designs use a combination of both, depending on the space and its use.
Almost anywhere. We install acoustic solutions in:
- Offices and boardrooms
- Classrooms and lecture halls
- Restaurants and cafés
- Village halls and community centres
- Recording studios and performance spaces
- Homes and residential developments
- Swimming pools
Any space with hard, reflective surfaces can benefit. We’ve delivered over 5,000 installations across the UK and Europe — proving there’s no environment where good acoustics don’t matter.
The number of panels required depends on the size, shape, and materials in the room, as well as the intended use. A small meeting room might need as few as 6–8 wall panels to one wall, while an open-plan office could require dozens of ceiling baffles or rafts. The aim is to reduce the reverberation time to a comfortable level, not to cover every surface.
Walls: Good practise is to apply panelling from skirting to ceiling to 2no. perpendicular walls to reduce flutter echoes.
Ceilings: In accordance with new BS ISO 22955:2021 guidelines, the ceiling is the most important treatment area, and should feature approximately 50-60% Class A coverage in open plan office spaces.
Resonics provides a free acoustic survey and CAD layout to determine exactly how many panels you need and where they should go. This ensures you invest only in what’s necessary to achieve measurable results.
The best placement depends on how the room is used:
- Offices/meeting rooms: first reflection points (side walls and ceiling above desks). Ideally on 2 perpendicular walls to reduce flutter echo.
- Restaurants/classrooms: spread evenly across walls and ceilings to avoid “hot spots”. Ideally above 50% of the ceiling area using Class A products.
- Studios: direct reflection points behind and beside speakers/microphones.
Ceilings are often the most effective surface because they are large, open, and unobstructed. Our free CAD proposals include detailed layouts showing the exact recommended panel placement for maximum performance.
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