Innovative climate systems and room acoustics
Nils-Åke Andersson, Saint-Gobain Ecophon Group
There are several applications, where the whole ceiling area can’t be covered by an acoustic suspended ceiling. One such important situation is where the concrete core is used for heating and cooling, so called innovative climate system or concrete core activation (CCA). In such cases there might be different requirements how much the concrete needs to be exposed. The demands might vary from a rather low percentage exposure up to more than half of the ceiling area.
To achieve good room acoustics under such circumstances can be solved by different means. A combination of wall and ceiling absorbers seems to be the most convenient solution.
This project aimed to check how much reverberation time changes, when an acoustic ceiling covers only parts of the ceiling area. Measurements have been performed both in a reverberation chamber, with diffuse field conditions, and in a “real” room without diffuse conditions. Different percentage of coverage has been tested as well as different configurations of the absorbers, including influence of the perimeter.