Saint Peter's Catholic Church Fellowship Hall Acoustics

James CoxJames began his acoustical career over 25 years ago as a project manager, focusing on sound attenuation with operable and accordion partitions. He transitioned into specified product sales, creating solutions for designers and contractors. Outside of work, James enjoys activities with his kids and exploring Richmond. 1-800-782-5742 Ext. 0122

Here a set of double doors are acoustically sealed using 485 jamb seals, a surface-mounted door automatic bottom, and a 140 astragal for one active door.

The Issue

Saint Peter’s Catholic Church uses its fellowship hall for a wide range of activities, group meetings, and community events. The goal of the church was to increase speech intelligibility in their fellowship hall, which had a high cathedral ceiling. The church had previously involved a general-purpose contractor. The contractor had expressed doubts about his ability to correct the issue. Acoustical Solutions was able to apply its knowledge and expertise to the problem and outline an appropriate solution.

Custom-manufactured fabric wrapped panels sized to fit an angled ceiling.

The Solution

Saint Peter’s Catholic Church wanted a design that called for panels to be mounted high on the walls and no products applied to the lower 10′ portion of the walls. The initial design would lower the reverberation time of the room. But, there would be potential flutter echo issues in certain untreated areas. To solve the echo problem, a linear band of panels was recommended for the side walls. Custom two-inch-thick AlphaSorb® Fabric Wrapped Acoustic Panels were manufactured and installed to specification. The treatment met both the design and acoustic requirements of the room. Acoustical Solutions was able to measure the ceiling angle very accurately from the floor and translate that shape into panels with only a 3″ reveal between the ceiling and the panels. Additionally, door seals were applied to a set of double doors to prevent any sound from leaving the fellowship hall. The design worked out perfectly and provided an accurate and clean solution, solving the church’s acoustical challenges.

Sound panels installed around the perimeter to reduce flutter echo.

Sound panels were installed around the perimeter to reduce flutter echo.

The Result

Post treatment, speech intelligibility in the fellowship hall has vastly improved, and the pastor and the parish members are completely satisfied with the results. The church is even considering adding more AlphaSorb® Acoustic Panels to fine-tune the room’s acoustics even further.

To learn more about how Acoustical Solutions can solve your noise control problems, use our contact form, call one of our Acoustical Sales Consultants at (800) 782-5742, or visit us on the web at acousticalsolutions.com.

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