Tuckahoe Presbyterian Church

The Issue

Tuckahoe Presbyterian Church needed acoustical panels to create a better meeting space for their congregation. Reducing the reverberation time for this space provided a drastic improvement in speech intelligibility and a significant reduction in overall noise.

The Challenge

Tuckahoe Presbyterian Church was experiencing an excessive amount of reverb in their fellowship hall. Upon inspection of the facility, the reverberation time was approximately around 2.5 to 3 seconds. Consequently, the speech intelligibility in the room was less than desirable. For that reason, carrying on conversations, especially in larger groups, could be fatiguing.

The room was mostly comprised of hard, reflective surfaces and a vaulted ceiling. There are some fabric banners on the lower portion of the walls, but they did very little to affect the acoustics. Without anything significantly absorptive, the sound will simply bounce uncontrollably throughout the space. With a series of church activities taking place here, controlling this sound was essential to having a functional venue.

The Solution

To reduce the excessive reverberation in large spaces, the acoustic material should be even throughout the space. AlphaSorb^® Fabric Wrapped Acoustic Ceiling Clouds strategically cover the entire ceiling working to absorb the accumulating sound energy. Custom-sized AlphaSorb^® Fabric Wrapped Acoustic Panels Fabric-Wrapped Acoustic Wall Panels were designed to fit the end wall. They mimic the pitch of the ceiling and easily blend into the interior space.

Tuckahoe Presbyterian Church – Ceiling cloud layout to account for can lights and chandeliers.

The Result

The AlphaSorb^® Fabric-Wrapped Ceiling Clouds and AlphaSorb^® Fabric-Wrapped Acoustic Wall Panels dramatically decreased the reverberation time in the room. The reverberation time is now down to under one second and the speech intelligibility is where it needs to be. The fellowship hall now provides an enjoyable space to use for a wide range of activities.