Met with a client who is starting to use teleconferencing in their conference room. The room is probably 15x30, I haven't actually measured it yet. There is a long table down the center, it could seat 15 people easily. The walls are just drywall with 6-8 framed pictures on them that are glass and fairly large. Around the perimeter of the room the ceiling is a drywall soffitt about 18-24" and it steps up in the center maybe 8", and becomes a 2x2 acoustic tile ceiling, several 2x2 lay-ins, AC vents etc.

Their complaint is that the room is very echo-y when they are on conference calls. It echos slightly even when two people are standing in there and talking. And they say that they sound like they are speaking from a cave on the conference calls.

So, anyone have experience with or a suggestion for this type of situation?

I am thinking some acoustical panels between the pictures for some absorption. Hopefully they will look decorative. Maybe replace some ceiling tiles if anyone makes such a product, or maybe fabricating the ceiling tiles if need be. I'm just not sure if this will be enough.

I also thought of a cloth runner for the table, though I doubt it will absorb much, or maybe centerpieces to break up the sound some.

The carpet is just the basic commercial carpet, nicer than most, but with almost no pad to speak of.

So how do I get some absorption in the room without making it look butt-ugly?

Any suggestions would be helpful,
TIA,
G

I havent used these so i have zero idea how well they work but i was checking them out yesterday and ran across this picture diagram



The panels them selves you could have each framed to match the decor of the room

Wow it might be ok for a confrence room but there diagram is totaly off for a HT. Most important you want you pannels at the first order reflection point they missed that. Back of room defusers is the current recomendation.

yeah, i wouldn't recommend going by that diagram for a HT :) for trunk slammers it is ok though.

I would think it would be an ok setup for a conference room though. The OP didnt mention if one wall is all windows or that they were any windows at all.

No windows, just a door at each end of the room, on the
same wall, which is the long wall. The camera is on one
end of the room, and an electronic white board on the
opposite end.

What kind of VTC do they have? What mics? In-ceiling speakers? Give us some details on the equipment. Is the echo going through to the far end?

 Have them replace all of the art with these acoustic panels...

gikacoustics.com/gik_artpanel.html

In the corners where the walls meet the ceiling, put in soffit style bass traps.

The tegular 2x2 tile systems, even though "acoustic" panels are the very lowest level of treatment and would probably benefit from having some additional absorbers / diffusors attached to them, perhaps even dropping a "cloud" over the table if there is room, suspended below the tile system.  Integrating lighting into such a cloud and proper trim would make it look quite nice.

i just noticed your link and clicked on it, quite the impressive resume!

We had a small room (13 X 16) with about a two second delay. You literally could not carry on a conversation. It was like an echoe chamber.

We signed on with Kinetics, and they requested the room dimensions, and room details & did a pretty detailed break down in terms of types of panels and where to put them.

The results were amazing! No more echoe. The panels look pretty nice as well. Several fabric choices etc.

+1! Very impressive! Now get a haircut! (just kidding!) 8>)

Auralex offers a free acoustical evaluation service and will spec their products, Kinetics, I'm sure, is the same. Rives Audio has a flat rate acoustical consult service based on how involved you want to get, with the lowest price at $1200 for existing rooms. We have worked with Richard at Rives and he is very knowledgeable. www.rivesaudio.com

Go to the Armstrong site and look for their products. They make many different ones, based on the application. I think it's called 'Whisper Wall".

Here is what I have used, call and ask for Kip, they were great to work with.

[Link: cseacoustics.com]



Thomas, from your posts I assumed you were older. And I agree with Bruce, that is not a proper hair cut for a Navy man :)

If you want to go cheap you can go to places like Ready Acoustics and get DIY kits and put them together yourself. But if you want traps that you don't have to cover in order to make them pretty, then the GIK ones above are probably your best bet since they come with pretty enclosing bags.

But, as mentioned, traps are more for absorption, when maybe you really want more diffusion. You might not want to have the level of deadness in a conference room that you want in a studio or home theater. It might feel uncomfortable to the folks in there.

It maybe be that all you need is just some heavy draps along one wall or something to acheive what you need for the kinds of levels of sound involved in a meeting room if media playback isn't involved.