Acoustics: the overlooked half of good AV

Organisations spend carefully on cameras, screens and microphones, then meet in a glass-walled room with a hard table and bare floor, and wonder why remote attendees say the audio is tiring. The equipment is only half the story; the room is the other half.

What goes wrong

Hard, parallel surfaces reflect sound, creating echo and reverberation that smear speech. Microphones then pick up the reflections as well as the voice, and the result is fatiguing and hard to understand, especially for people on a call.

What good acoustic design does

• Adds absorption to control reflections and reverberation
• Reduces noise from air conditioning and corridors
• Balances treatment so the room is clear but not dead
• Improves speech intelligibility for in-room and remote listeners

Treat it early

Acoustic treatment is far cheaper and better looking when planned with the fit-out than when added later to fix complaints. For meeting rooms, auditoria and venues, acoustics should be part of the AV design from the start, not an afterthought.