How to Elevate Your 4-Person Meeting Rooms Using Acoustic Solutions

As the ever-changing workspace continues to shift, we want to help ensure you are making the most out of your existing four-person meeting rooms.

Try elevating your meeting rooms with sustainable acoustic solutions that will not only help to absorb excessive noise but will aid in the overall happiness and wellbeing of employees.

To do so, introduce a range of acoustic wall panels, acoustic lighting, and seating elements that not only help to mitigate sound but will also help to elevate the design aspect of the working space as well. Additionally, by adding biophilic and nature-inspired products, productivity, cognitive ability, creativity, and concentration in employees will also soar.

Let's take a closer look at how the acoustics of each meeting room improved after adding some acoustic elements into the designated space below. 

Each four-person meeting room is 4.50m (l) x 4.50m (w) x 3.00 m (h) with a total volume of 60.75 m3.

Scenario 1: Meeting Rooms With the Bare Essentials

When treating acoustic issues in meeting rooms, the most common challenges are due to and are not limited to hard surfaces (such as uncarpeted floors, ceilings, and bare walls), non-absorbing furniture (plastic, metal), glass windows and doors. These small spaces also allow for sound waves to freely bounce back and forth, while reverberation can also occur from AV equipment.

To find the most appropriate acoustic solutions for your meeting room, it’s imperative to measure the actual reverb time. Of course, our Acoustic Team can help you with this. All you need to do is fill out a request form. This result will help you determine how many acoustic products you need and where to place the sound-absorbing solutions rather than situating them randomly.

Now let’s see how we can improve your meeting rooms!

Meeting Room Remedied With Acoustic Solutions Example 1

To help balance low and high frequencies, and to reach the recommended reverb time, we’ve introduced wall-mounted acoustic panels such as BuzziMood and BuzziTile to prevent sound waves from bouncing back and forth throughout the room. Additionally, BuzziFalls is placed on the windows to spread sound transfers evenly in the space before being absorbed by the wall treatments.

Introducing soft, porous furniture also aids with mitigating sound. Instead of sticking to the commonly used plastic and metal chairs, add some upholstered seating into the mix, such as a BuzziDee or BuzziSpot, which will also help to absorb excessive noise.

Finally, ceiling elements and free-standing solutions will help to lower high frequencies to the recommended level. To capture the soundwaves going upwards, we’ve installed BuzziJet to help balance the room, while placing upholstered BuzziPlanters in the corners helps to trap soundwaves and prevent them from bouncing back.

Original, Adjusted & Recommended RT60

To aid us in achieving the recommended acoustic outcome, we first used our acoustic RT60 app, which is a quick and easy way to calculate the reverb time in an empty space. Now let’s take a closer look at the Original, Adjusted, and Recommenced RT60 for our first meeting room.

The measurements from the Original RT60 calculates 0.62 seconds of reverb time in the lower frequencies (125Hz), caused by the humming of machines, to 2.27 seconds in the high frequencies (2000Hz to 4000Hz), which is caused by typing sounds and cell phone rings. The goal is to bring down the reverb time to sit in-between the Recommended RT60 - Top (which is the minimum level that should be reached) and Recommended RT60 to find the perfect sound balance. Any higher or lower would not be ideal.

After remedying the space with our acoustic solutions, we were able to achieve the Adjusted RT60 result of 0.50 secs for the low frequencies and 0.49 secs for the high-pitched frequencies.

Meeting Room Remedied With Acoustic Solutions Example 2

In our second example, we’ve placed together a range of BuzziKey Softs in both square and rectangular shapes, firstly to absorb excessive noise, especially from the monitor, and to create a delightful 3D design element.

In terms of acoustic seating elements, we’ve placed a duo of BuzziCubes and a BuzziDee to help mitigate sound. Additionally, BuzziBell acts as our ceiling element, while the free-standing BuzziTotem will also help to trap sound waves and keep them from bouncing back and forth in the room. Finally, along with its sound-absorbing capabilities, BuzziPlanter will also add some biophilic elements into the space to help increase productivity, concentration, creativity, and overall wellbeing and happiness.

Original, Adjusted & Recommended RT60

Once again, using our acoustic RT60 app, we were able to quickly measure the reverb time in this bare meeting room. Now let’s take a closer look at the Original, Adjusted, and Recommenced RT60 for this second meeting room.

The measurements from the Original RT60 calculates 1.11 seconds of reverb time in the lower frequencies (125Hz), which then balances off to around 1.72 seconds in the mid to high frequencies (2000Hz to 4000Hz). The goal is to bring down the reverb time to sit in-between the Recommended RT60 - Top (which is the minimum level that should be reached) and Recommended RT60 to find the perfect sound balance. Any higher or lower would not be ideal.

After remedying the space with our acoustic solutions, we were able to achieve the Adjusted RT60 result of 0.65 secs for the low frequencies, 0.49 secs for the high-pitched frequencies, and an average of 0.52 secs in the mid-frequency range.

Meeting Room Remedied With Acoustic Solutions Example 3

In our final example, we’ve added a BuzziDish trio to the wall along with a customized BuzziBrickBack to prevent sound waves from bouncing back and forth throughout the room, in addition to elevating the space design-wise.

To help liven up your meetings, BuzziDee Plus, BuzziDee Solo, and BuzziBalance are vibrant seating alternatives to your usual metal and plastic counterparts. The aforementioned acoustic products will also aid in mitigating excessive noise in the room.

To capture the soundwaves going upwards, we’ve installed BuzziCone to help balance the room. Elsewhere, the free-standing acoustic pillar, BuzziTotem, diffuses sound with its soft edges and round shape, while its upholstered foam body absorbs sound in its entirety. Placing BuzziTotem in the corner will trap sound waves and prevent them from bouncing back and forth.

Finally, the two upholstered BuzziPlanters in the opposite corners play a similar role in helping to trap soundwaves and preventing them from bouncing back, on top of adding biophilia into the space for improved concentration and overall wellbeing.

Original, Adjusted & Recommended RT60

In our final meeting room example, the measurements from the Original RT60 calculated a reverb time of 0.62 seconds for the low-frequency range (125Hz), an average of 1.8 seconds in the mid-frequency range (250Hz to 2000Hz), and 2.28 seconds in the high-frequency range (4000Hz).

Let’s take a look at the Adjusted and Recommenced RT60 for this third meeting room. After remedying the space with our acoustic solutions, we were able to achieve the Adjusted RT60 result of 0.48 secs for the low frequencies, an average of 0.59 secs for the mid frequencies, and 0.53 secs for the high frequencies.

Once again, the goal is to bring down the reverb time to sit in-between the Recommended RT60 - Top (which is the minimum level that should be reached) and Recommended RT60 to find the perfect sound balance. Any higher or lower would not be ideal.

Additional Ideas

Additionally, there are plenty of other ways to revamp your current four-person meeting rooms: turn them into private and snug spaces to hold informal meetings or introduce separate workstations so focus work can be done.

For companies that have downsized or are planning to, your pre-existing meeting rooms can also be rented out to smaller businesses. Be sure to keep your company ethos intact as well by adding appropriate solutions that remain true to your aesthetics and brand.