In the home or recreational environment, poor acoustics is frustrating and hampers human relationships. In the learning or meeting environment, poor acoustics leads to tension, lost information, and inefficient use of time. In the work environment, compromised communications leads to lost productivity or unsafe conditions.

As articulated over 100 years ago by Wallace Sabine (founder of historic Riverbank Acoustical Laboratories in Geneva, Illinois) adequate speech recognition requires that:

1) the space be sufficiently free of extraneous noise,

2) the individual sounds of speech production be separated, and

3) the weaker consonant sounds remain strong.

If speech intelligibility alone is the concern, it can be measured directly - in rooms or over a PA system – using special words spoken live or delivered from a compact disk. After each word is delivered, a jury of listeners writes down what they heard. The percentage of words heard correctly is the speech intelligibility rating. Objective tests are also available to rate the listening environment.

While speech communication problems can involve factors such as vocal strength, accents, and hearing loss, most often it is a result of poor room acoustics. The best time to deal with such problems is during the design phase. But this is not always the case as poor room acoustics aren't often apparent until after a space is occupied. So while the space may have visual appeal, its poor acoustics can compromise its intended use.

While retrofitting is not the best approach, cost effective solutions can still be implemented after the fact. But the aspects of background noise, reverberation, and reflectivity must each be separately examined.

After each of these three acoustical parameters has been evaluated, a treatment plan can then be developed to resolve the overall room acoustics problem. If noise is the problem, we recommend noise control treatment – from moving mechanical equipment, to increasing window glazing, to installing ventilation silencers. If reverberation is the problem, we specify the type, acoustical properties, and location of sound absorption treatment. If unusual reflectivity is the problem, we recommend surface treatment to diffuse the sound.