Factors to consider by the Acoustic ceiling

Many people are Confused by the word acoustic ceilings and it is hardly surprising due to the fact most suspended ceiling producers claim their ceiling tiles have acoustic properties. Obviously Manufacturers make these claims because they know it will sell more tiles, and they are all correct in asserting their tiles are acoustic, but the fact is there are two kinds of acoustics they are referring to, and they are at complete opposite ends of the spectrum. The two types of Ceiling tile acoustics are solid absorbers and sound reflectors, and these two kinds are useful in various applications. Sound Absorbers As the title suggests these help absorb the noise that is extremely helpful at preventing echo reverberation in rooms, particular lee corridors or massive halls. Some tiles are better than others and the greater they are at absorbing noise the greater the NRC Noise Reduction Coefficient value will be NRC value of 1.0 being elevated and a NRC value of 0.1 being reduced .

Sound Reflectors Obviously these Reflect sound and are extremely helpful in certain conditions. By way of instance if you had a room with a noisy machine indoors and you wanted to stop some of the sound penetrating from that room and bothering others, you can install tiles that are good at representing noise. This would help keep the sound contained inside the room. Decibel rating dB Tiles which are good Absorbers tend to get a very low dB decibel rating, hence most producers do not say the dB rating of those tiles, and adhere to offering you their NRC rating. Similarly the reverse is true for non NRC rated ceiling tiles; the producers will present their dB score instead.

The problem is most People know of dB decibels, and understand that this has something to do with audio and then immediately jump to the conclusion that a higher dB rated ceiling tile is  what they need, and yet in the vast majority of cases they did have been better off using a high sound absorbing ceiling tile. Some of the best sound Absorbing ceiling tiles are made from glass fiber or stone fibre. Sound reflecting acoustic ceiling are normally made from harder materials such as calcium silicate, gyro or some kinds of mineral fibre. If you require Advice regarding ceiling acoustics then we would suggest contacting a ceiling contractor who has experience with acoustics.