Commercial Soundproofing Products
Often employees working within the commercial sector are based in open plan offices for most of their working day. This brings with it a number of acoustic challenges. Good rooms acoustics within offices and sound insulation (commercial soundproofing) performance between adjacent offices will ensure that your workforce are happy and productive, minimize stress and absence, and keep everything in check with current UK legislation for commercial soundproofing.
Acoustic insulation
Adequate sound insulation performance within the commercial sector can often be compromised by the presence of lightweight suspended ceilings and partitions, with common ceiling voids between areas. This usually leads to poor speech privacy and confidentiality between offices. Even 'acoustic' suspended ceiling tiles will offer very little sound insulation, or soundproofing, performance due to their lightweight nature. To improve the sound insulation performance of suspended ceilings SRS supply a system called Soundblocker. This system consists of a Soundblocker tile, that sits on the back of the lay-in suspended ceiling tile, and a range of accessories to treat light fittings and other penetrations.
Another option for commercial soundproofing in offices if the suspended ceiling void is not being used for air movement, is to use a vertical cavity barrier within the void along the line of the partition. SRS offer three different vertical acoustic cavity barriers: Soundstop (46dB), Soundbreaker (48dB), and Soundbar (53dB).
If the partition is also lightweight, perhaps timber stud-work lined with plasterboard, then this can be upgraded using our Maxiboard acoustic building board. In order to install Maxiboard to an existing timber or metal stud the linings must first be removed and SRS Maxi Slab inserted into void. At that point SRS Maxi Resilient Bars are installed at 600mm centres horizontally and the Maxiboard screwed to the face of the resilient bars. A finishing layer of plasterboard should then be installed over the Maxiboard and plastered using conventional techniques. As with most of our commercial soundproofing specifications, this method of installation is designed to maximize acoustic performance whilst minimizing the loss of room space.
Acoustic absorption in offices and other workplaces
Reverberant noise with open plan offices can cause communication problems between colleagues and also customers at the end of the telephone. Clear communication and speech intelligibility are very important within commercial environments. Even when absorptive lay-in grid suspended ceilings are present, the reverberation time may still be high due to the presence of hard, acoustically reflective surfaces such as desks, desk dividers, computer screens, and thin floor coverings such as carpet tiles, that offer very little in terms of broadband acoustic absorption performance.
Within contact centres and customer service departments, where a number of people are likely to be on the telephone at the same time, the problem is increased as voices are raised to complete with the reverberation and background noise.
In order to ensure that the acoustic conditions within the commercial buildings are commensurate to their use, we recommend our range of Sonata acoustic absorption products for commercial soundproofing. The most common treatment for office and call centres is our Sonata Vario suspended acoustic panel, installed beneath the ceilings, teamed with Sonata Memo acoustic noticeboards to provide wall sound absorption. The Sonata Memo noticeboard is Class A rated and has a facing that can accept pins and staples without causing damage to the panel.
SRS can also produce bespoke desk absorption products to provide acoustic absorption at low level and have supplied desk dividers to Ford Retail, uSwitch, Yopa, and Scottish and Southern Energy.
Expert Advice
SRS are experts at advising on noise problems of all kinds, so please give us a call on 01204 380074 to discuss your commercial soundproofing requirements. Alternatively send us an email to info@soundreduction.co.uk and we'll get back to you as soon as possible with practical suggestions and prices.
Commercial Soundproofing — Frequently Asked Questions
Why is soundproofing important in commercial buildings?
Commercial spaces, especially open plan offices, often suffer from poor acoustics, excessive reverberation, and weak sound insulation between rooms. Good acoustic design improves:
- Employee comfort and productivity
- Speech privacy and confidentiality
- Stress levels and absence rates
- Compliance with UK acoustic standards
Why do offices often have poor sound insulation?
Most commercial buildings use:
- Lightweight suspended ceilings
- Lightweight partitions
- Shared ceiling voids
These allow sound to travel easily between rooms. Even “acoustic” ceiling tiles offer very little actual sound insulation because they are designed for absorption, not blocking.
How can I improve sound insulation between offices?
SRS recommends several solutions depending on the building structure:
1. Soundblocker System (for suspended ceilings)
A Soundblocker tile sits on top of the existing lay in ceiling tile and improves airborne sound insulation. Accessories are available for:
- Light fittings
- Ceiling penetrations
2. Vertical acoustic cavity barriers (if the ceiling void isn’t used for air movement)
We offer a choice of 3 options depending on the needs of your environment:
- Soundstop – 46 dB
- Soundbreaker – 48 dB
- Soundbar – 53 dB
These run vertically in the ceiling void along the partition line.
3. Maxiboard (for upgrading lightweight partitions)
If partitions are timber or metal stud:
Maxiboard can be fitted by removing existing linings, inserting Maxi Slab into the void then fixing Maxi Resilient Bars horizontally at 600mm centres before screwing Maxiboard to the bars and finishing with plasterboard.
This maximises acoustic performance while minimising loss of room space.
How can I reduce reverberation and echo in open plan offices?
Open plan offices can be an environment where unwanted noise negatively affects the workplace. The nature of an open plan office means that they contain multiple Hard reflective surfaces (desks, screens, carpet tiles) which leads to high reverberation times and can make speech hard to hear due to the background noise.
To fix this, we recommend Sonata acoustic absorption products.
Which acoustic absorption products are best for offices and call centres?
Sonata Vario (suspended ceiling panels) are ideal for:
- Open plan offices
- Call centres
- Customer service departments
Sonata Memo (Class A acoustic noticeboards)
Provides wall absorption and doubles as a usable noticeboard. Accepts pins and staples without damage.
Bespoke desk absorption products
SRS can manufacture custom desk dividers and low level absorbers. These have been supplied to:
- Ford Retail
- uSwitch
- Yopa
- Scottish & Southern Energy
For more information about our range of products and how we can help you improve the acoustic performance of your commercial building, please contact us today.
