Earlier this summer, Richmond Friends Meeting reached out to Acoustics First® for assistance with their new Retreat Center in Amelia, VA. Their multi-purpose community hall was overly live with reverb and echoes, contributing to a poor listening environment. As this space is used for worship, meetings and social events, speech intelligibility is very important and more control was needed to “reign-in” excessive noise.

To correct these issues, Acoustics First® recommended a combination of 1” Hi-Impact Sonora® Wall Panels and 2” Sonora® Ceiling Panels. The acoustic design utilized “staggered” 2’x6’ ceiling panels to maximize coverage, in addition to the custom-shaped wall panels which match the slope of the ceiling.  

With approx. 400 SQFT of panels between the wall and ceiling, reverb was reduced by approx. 50%, drastically improving speech intelligibility and general room comfort.

The treatment tamed the acoustics of the room, which improved speech intelligibility by reducing the reverberance… and they were very happy with the result!