Uffindell, a London based brand consultancy, has solved the speech intelligibility problem in its offices and meeting room with the help of Sonata Acoustics’ sound absorption panels which rely on BASF’s Basotect G open cell foam.
Sonata Acoustics is a specialist manufacturer of room acoustics products utilising Basotect G foam as the absorptive core for many key products.
Basotect G is a flexible, open-cell foam made from melamine resin, a thermoset polymer. It provides high sound-absorption capacity – Class A at 50mm thick – combined with Class O fire resistance.
It is light weight and the fact that it is flexible enough to follow the contours of a curved profile make it appropriate for many building designs and when formed into a decorative Sonata panel it will also provide tough impact resistance.
Noise Reverberation – the degree to which noise remains within an enclosed space – is a problem for many commercial office spaces and the Uffindell building is a good example. High levels of noise reverberation were resulting from the hard acoustically-reflective surfaces of the meeting and conference rooms. A full height glass facade, windows, wood floor, plastered walls and ceiling, desk and furniture combined to create typical speech communication problems for conversation between staff, with clients and when on the phone.
Sonata carried out acoustic modelling of the Uffindell rooms to establish the existing noise reverberation time and arrive at options for achieving ideal levels based upon each room use. For this project the performance criteria in BS 8233 were used as the appropriate standard.
The final proposal offered choices for absorber panel type, positioning and colour. Sonata Vario absorbers, suspended from the ceilings proved practical, visually preferable to the client, and acoustically achieved the right amount of noise control to give the speech clarity needed.
