Understand Your Room
How Many Panels Do I Need?
This is one of the most common questions we are asked at Niber Acoustics and the answer is really simple.
Step 1
FIND THE TOTAL WALL SURFACE AREA OF YOUR ROOM (ignore the ceiling and floor).
To find the square feet of coverage = Surface area x the percentage of wall coverage you desire.
An Example:
Say your room's dimensions are 10 X 15 X 8, and you've decided on 25% coverage.
First, calculate the area of the walls:
10 (length) X 8 (height) = 80 (area of wall 1)
15 (width) X 8 (height) = 120 (area of wall 2)
10 (length) X 8 (height) = 80 (area of wall 3)
15 (width) X 8 (height) = 120 (area of wall 4)
Since this room is rectangular, the areas of the opposite walls will be the same.
Then add the areas together to get the total wall surface area of the room:
80 + 80 + 120 + 120 = 400
Finally, multiply the wall surface area by the percent coverage desired:
400 X .25 = 100
This room would need 100 square feet of panels to cover 25% of the total wall surface area.
Step 2
DECIDE WHAT PERCENTAGE OF WALL COVERAGE YOU WANT YOUR ROOM
Now you have to decide how much wall coverage you need
For standard acoustic noise reduction, we typically recommend covering 10-25% of your wall space. For some special cases, it may be advisable to use more than 25% coverage.
Step 3
DECIDE WHAT SIZE AND CONFIGURATION OF PANELS YOU WANT TO USE
Now that you know how many square feet of wall space you want to cover, you have to decide how you would like to cover this area. Several large panels, or a number of smaller panels, to cover the same amount of area can be used. It all depends on your vision for the space.
Below example shows use of different configurations of acoustic noise reductions panels to achieve the same amount of coverage.
Keep in mind that using a few large panels is generally more economical than using a number of smaller panels--so if budget is an issue for you, stick to larger, standard fabric panels.
Pick and choose until you create an acoustic treatment that complements your space. You can even sketch it out yourself using graph paper. Keep it simple (and to scale) by making each square represent one square foot.
For more guidance “leave us a message” and our advisor we will get back to you as soon as possible.