Lecture hall acoustics

In large auditoriums or lecture halls lecturers address students who often sit far away. It is therefore vital that the lecturer’s voice is reflected so that it reaches the whole audience clearly. To achieve this, there should be as little distortion as possible from echoes and background noise, particularly low-frequency sounds such as ventilation, projectors and other technical equipment.

Challenge

• Improving speech clarity.
• Improving listening comfort.
• Minimising echoes.

Solution:

• Use a sound-absorbing ceiling with exceptional absorption qualities for all speech frequencies.
• Create a speech-reflecting zone in the ceiling where the lecturer normally stands.
• Cover the back wall with wall absorbers.
• Add some wall absorbers on the side walls.

Product recommendation   

The recommendation is for this particular activity and space, based on a comparison between Ecophon products. The scale applied ranges from 1 to 5, where 5 is the highest score. The gamma surface should be used for the speech-reflecting zone.