What Are Acoustic Timber Panels
Acoustic timber panels are a functional and stunning finish for internal wall cladding.
They control noise, reduce echo and can give your listeners the best possible experience.
In this article, we’ll explore more about acoustic timber panels and how they can benefit your next design.
Understanding Acoustic Timber Panels
Acoustic timber panels are a type of indoor acoustic treatment that controls noise and improves sound quality.
These panels can be installed on the walls and/or ceilings of most interior spaces.
When a soundwave hits a flat surface like a wall, the force can be reflected, causing the sound to reverberate and echo.
Reverberation and echoes make interior spaces seem louder, reduce the clarity of sounds, and make it difficult to understand normal speech.
The timber used in acoustic panels is soft enough to absorb soundwaves and reduce noise.
Some types of panelling also use perforations or battens to redirect and trap soundwaves, further reducing noise transmission.
How Acoustic Timber Panels Can Benefit Your Space
We recommend acoustic timber panels for most commercial spaces, and for residential designs that are prone to echoing or unwanted sound transmission. The right panels can offer benefits like:
- Reduced background noise – As a porous material, timber is a good acoustic insulator. When it’s configured into acoustic panelling, timber absorbs sounds to reduce echoing, which decreases background noise. Timber acoustic panels are a popular wall and ceiling cladding for restaurants, offices, meeting rooms, foyers and other areas where lots of people gather.
- Privacy – These panels can reduce noise inside a room, but they also reduce the amount of noise that’s transferred through a surface. That is a great way to boost privacy in intimate spaces like apartments.
- Improved sound clarity – Reducing background noise goes a long way to improving the clarity of sound. This is important for spaces like theatres, but it’s also useful in everyday settings like busy restaurants. Background noise and echoing can make it difficult to understand normal human speech. Reducing these factors improves the quality of the sound, particularly for people with hearing impairment.
- Sound distribution – In certain spaces – like concert halls and theatres – we also want to amplify and distribute sound to listeners. Acoustic panelling can direct soundwaves towards the audience, while also reducing echoing once the sound reaches a wall or ceiling.
The Aesthetic Appeal of Acoustic Timber Panels
Acoustic timber panels offer form and function. In addition to the benefits we discussed above, they can also serve as a centrepiece for your design.
Their beauty comes from two factors: the natural timber and the shadow lines it creates.
Modinex’s range of acoustic timber panelling uses perpendicular battens to absorb and control sound within a space. The battens are stunning on their own, but the gap between each board can be widened or decreased to create striking shadow lines.
These shadow lines are an excellent way to increase the feeling of space within a room and draw the eye to particular features. Shadow lines are also functional, trapping soundwaves and preventing them from being reflected into the room.
Types of Timber Acoustic Panels
Timber panels come in a variety of formats to suit your design aesthetic. Some of the most common types of timber acoustic panels include:
- Solid wood panels – Solid wood panels can be effective as acoustic panelling. While they won’t perform as well as perforated or batten panels, solid panelling is a good alternative to hard surfaces like gyprock and concrete.
- Perforated panels – Perforated panels look fantastic and they work by allowing soundwaves to pass through the board, trapping it behind the panel to be absorbed.
- Batten panels – These types of panels use a batten system to absorb and trap soundwaves. They are especially effective in large, open spaces, and they’re an excellent choice if design is a major factor.
Shape Your Space With Acoustic Timber Panels From Modinex!
Installing acoustic timber panels is a fantastic way to finish your space while providing functional noise control.
Modinex supplies a range of acoustic timber treatments – talk to us to find out more.
Article By Charlton Cooper
| 27 November 2024
Charlton Cooper
Head of Projects
Charlton is a seasoned advisor in construction and design, collaborating with builders, developers, and architects to deliver exceptional projects. With extensive experience as a head of projects, Charlton combines deep knowledge of natural timber, aluminium, and concrete to provide innovative and inspiring design solutions.
