Technical solutions for acoustic problems in Community Centres 

Soundsorba have many years of dealing with acoustic problems in Community Centres. Community Centre buildings vary quite significantly in their construction. Although a few are newly designed and built ( especially through Lottery funding ), many are older buildings which were built, possibly for another purpose but later were handed over to a community organisation to run locally needed services.

Management of Community Centres :

Some Community centres are owned and run by local authorities but many of them are run by local residents who form a Management Committee. These members are mostly unpaid volunteers who really care about their community and want to give something back to enrich the lives of the local residents. As these members do not receive any salary , the time and effort they put in to run and organise activities at these community centres is invaluable.

Community centre buildings vary in their construction. Some as very basic such as a large timber shed to specifically designed and built centre which resemble sport centres. A lot of the funding to run these centre is raised by the local Management Committee.

Community Centre uses.

Many of the buildings are used for a wide range of activities. These can be scout groups, local music gigs, aerobic classes, nursery use, pre-natal and health awareness sessions, jumble sales, birthday parties, small weddings and local community meetings.

The buildings need to be low maintenance, easy to clean and durable. This leads to the floors being either wooden or vinyl or similar easy to mop clean surface. The walls tend to be either bare brick / blockwork which has normally been painted or plastered or sometimes solid wood panelling. The ceiling surfaces can vary from plasterboard to concrete or metal cladding or similar.

Echosorba acoustic ceiling panels used to solve acoustics in Chalfont St
Giles community centre.

Acoustic Problems in Community Centres.

Whilst these surfaces are excellent for the functional requirements of easy cleaning, long term durability and low maintenance, these hard surfaces lead to a noise problem. When the hall is being used by people, the sound hits the hard surfaces and 95% to 99% bounces off back into the room. When there are a number of people in a hall, this reflected noise is amplified and makes the hall act as an echo chamber. This means that words are difficult to decipher as they are lost in the clatter of sound which is reverberating off the hard internal surfaces of the hall.

Many of the Management Committee members and users mistakenly think that there is no solution and carry on suffering from such dangerous high noise levels.

However, there are a number of solutions available from the Soundsorba range of acoustic products which will not only work but are cost effective and simple to install.

Installation of acoustic panelling.

As Community Centres have very little spare money, savings can be made if the product required can be fitted by local people. Nearly all of Soundsorba acoustic products are DIY in terms of installation therefore local labour can be used to carry out the fitting work. This not only saves money but allows one to carry out the work quickly without waiting for a time window to suit a specialist fitters time schedule.

There are two surfaces where sound absorbing panels can be applied. These are the walls and the ceiling. The sound absorbing panels chosen need to be suitable for the activities being carried out in the hall.

Ceilings :-

(a) Echosorba II stick on acoustic ceiling panels: Providing there are no balls games to be played in the hall then the solutions will be to fit Echosorba II stick on acoustic panels on most of the ceiling area. If there are existing lights then these can stay where they are as the acoustic panels can be cut to fit around the light fittings. The same applies to fire detectors and other services. Again this is a cost saving as the lights do no have to be removed and then refitted. And we all know how long it takes to get an electrician!

The Echosorba II acoustic panels are lightweight and are simply glued to the ceiling using a contact adhesive (This is called Bondsorba ceiling contact adhesive). The application method is easy as the adhesive, which comes in a one litre can, is applied to the ceiling surface with a brush and also the back of the acoustic panel surface. This is left for about 4 to 5 minutes (depending on the temperature and humidity conditions of the hall). Once the adhesive is touch dry, then press the panel onto the ceiling surface and apply pressure evenly over the panels and especially the perimeter edges. The adhesive is instant grab therefore make sure to position the panels in the exact position. The Echosorba II acoustic panel is pre decorated in visually pleased white speckle finish and the perimeter has bevelled edges to give a special design effect. The extra advantage is that this product can be painted to a required colour by using a water based matt emulsion paint without any significant shortfall in acoustic performance.

(b) WoodsorbaPro timber acoustic panels: Where there is the likely- hood of ball games being played in the hall, then WoodsorbaPro timber acoustic panels will be a better solutions as it has better impact resistant properties then the Echosorba II stick on acoustic ceiling panels. These panels are made of wood (18mm thick M.D.F) and are supplied in board lengths of 2400mm long. The most popular width of the panels for ceilings is 293mm wide. This makes it easier to move the board over the shoulders and lighter to fix when installing over ones head. These panels are tongue on one long side and grooved on the other long side. The installation method is to screw or nail these panels through the sides and push them together to form a visually seamless joint where the fixings are not visible. There are four different face patterns, two are slatted and two are circular hole versions. The panels are available in a range of real wood veneers as well as painted finish. A paper laminate surface is also available as the cheapest range but it is only chosen on rare occasions as the paper surface is not very durable.

These panels are simply fitted to pre-fixed timber panels.

Walls :-

(c ) Wallsorba acoustic wall panels: These are fabric faced sound absorbing panels and are used on the vertical wall surfaces to absorb the noise in the hall. These have good impact resistance from indoor footballs etc and are available in a range of 20 new colours.

These are large panels in standard sizes of 2700 x 1200 x 25mm thick and hence are cost effective and installed very quickly as they cover large wall areas in the minimal amount of time. Three different versions are available and they differ only in their perimeter edge detail. The Wallsorba Type A Tee joint and the Wallsorba Type B Butt joint are the most popular and cost effective versions. These two versions are also the most flexible as they can be cut to size on site with a Stanley knife to suit the height and width of the walls.

These panels are also fitted in community centres where the panels are fitted on their sides ( i.e horizontally ) in a 1200mm high band around the four walls, wherever possible.

(d)Echosorba II stick on acoustic ceiling panels: These can also be used on walls at high level where they are out of reach and not likely to be hit by any objects. These are fitted horizontally or vertically to suit the free wall area which can be covered. Details as on the ceiling above.

( e) WoodsorbaPro timber acoustic panels: These can be fitted at low level as they are very durable and are the most resistant acoustic panelling product in the whole range as they are made from 18mm thick timber. Details as on the ceiling above.

Monks Risborough Scout Halls solved their acoustic problems using Wallsorba acoustic wall
panels on the upper walls.

How much sound absorption is required ?

Community centres do not tend be large halls nor are they small rooms. The acoustic environment can be tuned to suit a particular usage for the hall. Lets take the example of a typical community centre hall. This hall has internal dimensions of 20 metres long x 10 metres wide and 4 metres high. The floor is timber boarding , the walls are plastered and the ceiling is made from plasterboard. The existing reverberation time in this hall is around 2.9 seconds at the important 500 Hertz mid frequency. If the hall is going to be used for music (live singing and musical instruments ) then the reverberation time needs to be reduced to about 1.4 seconds. However , if the hall is going to be used for speech (such as debates and functions ), then the reverberation time need to be reduced even lower to 0.8 seconds.

So if the community centre hall is going to be used as a multi-function hall then which reverberation time should you be trying to achieve.

The answer is the you have to have a compromise reverberation time of around 1.1 seconds which is almost good enough for speech but also live enough for music.

To achieve a reverberation time at the mid frequencies of around 1.1 seconds, you will need to install 90 square metres of Echosorba II stick on acoustic panels. These can be on the ceilings or on the walls or parts on the wall and part on the ceiling. The important point is that you introduce a minimum of 90 square metres into the hall and that this absorption is evenly placed around the hall ( i.e. all the acoustic panelling must not be installed in only one end of the hall ).

But my Community Hall is different ?

Soundsorba can help calculate the exact amount of absorption if you can email the exact internal dimensions of the hall along with the description of the surface finishes of the walls, floor and ceilings. Digital camera photographs emailed will also be extremely useful. This is a free technical service which we provide to help of customers avoid costly mistakes so that they introduce the right amount of absorption into the hall.

Which Community Centres have used Soundsorba acoustic panels ?

Just a few a listed below :

Great Chesterford Village Hall

Vivian Moon Community Centre

Tring Park Cricket Centre

Hoar Cross Hall

Flitwick Community Hall

Taunton Amateur Opera Society Hall

Fulde Coast YMCA

Royal Burnham Yacht Club

Ember Brook Community Centre

Whiteleaf Scout Group

Horton Cum Stanley Village Hall

Bellyman Art and Community Centre

Islanders Boys Centre

3 rd Hampton Scout Hall

Berkshire Young Musicians Centre

St Issey Village Hall

Marsworth Village Hall

Ist Newent Scout Group Hall

Shelley Farm Community Hall

Thorpe Marriott Neighbourhood Centre

Castlefield Challenge Community Centre

Where do I buy the acoustic panels from ?

The acoustic panels can be purchased from Soundsorba's distributors which cover most of the UK. In areas where there are no distributors Soundsorba can supply direct to your premises. Please contact Soundsorba Ltd on telephone 01494- 536888 for further details.

Where can I get further information ?

Product brochures and literature : These are on our website which is www.soundsorba.com . Click on the PRODUCT icon at the top of the page and choose the product which you are interested. Click on the PDF download and you can see the full technical product brochure immediately. Hard copies are available by emailing or telephone request.

Samples can also be provided.

Where can I get prices ?