Gaming Room Acoustic Treatment: Ultimate Guide

I’ll admit it, gamine is huge and getting bigger everyday. The world of video games is incredible, especially when compared to where it started not that long ago.

Everyone may remember the simple games like Pong and Ms. Pac-Man and how fun they were, and then how the first super popular side-scroller games, like Super Mario World, took it to a whole other level. Instead of playing a game like Pong, which was essentially a tennis match, games now are immersive, following a character on a journey.

In the time from Super Mario World to now, the immersiveness of video games has reached profound levels. In addition to extremely engaging video games that help the gamer feel like being the character in a Hollywood movie, the competitive games have reached such heights that Esports – professional video gaming – has become a career option! Competitive, team-based video games have vaulted the hobby into more than just something fun to do at home alone, now it’s something to do actively with others, and the more competitive the game, the more fun it is to be with each other when playing. 

Welcome to the world of gaming lounges! In this article, we will introduce the concept of gaming lounges and focus on the most critical aspect after a live internet connection and computers: proper acoustic treatment to maximize the experience.

Understanding Gaming Rooms and Lounges

The concept grew rapidly in Eastern Europe and Asia, regions where owning your own computer and internet connection wasn’t common. Instead of needing that all-powerful connection and a computer, people could go to a gaming lounge in their city, sit down at a computer, and pay a small fee to access the internet and game their hearts away. As video games and, particularly, online, competitive video games have exploded, the concept of gaming lounges quickly spread to the rest of the developed world, and they offer a wildly fun and fantastic business where kids (and adults!) can go to game. You even see mini-gaming rooms in airports and hotels nowadays, to give the hungry video game enthusiasts an opportunity to put their gaming skills to the test no matter where they are.

The Components of a Great Gaming Room

When looking to construct a gaming lounge, there are a handful of absolutely critical components:

1. Computers, Gaming Console, and Screens

Although video games have always been available on computers, the great expansion of gaming came through gaming consoles. Brands such as Atari, Nintendo, Sega and eventually Sony and Microsoft created amazing consoles that needed only to be plugged into a tv to work. They are still popular, but with the massive increase in online gaming and the prices of extremely powerful computers began to become reasonable, computer gaming now reigns supreme.

To even call your business a gaming lounge will require a bank of computers and/or gaming consoles connected to screens and ultimately, the internet.

2. The Internet

While many gamers may be content to play offline, the vast majority of the most popular games being played today are done online. No gaming lounge can succeed without an internet connection that is powerful and can handle many users at the same time. 

3. Atmosphere

Chairs and Couches

As I mentioned, gaming nowadays is an immersive experience. Have you ever watched a truly immersive film, something like The Lord of the Rings, standing in your living room? I haven’t! I want a big couch I can cozy up on for the exciting ride I’m about to take. Video games are no different! In fact, many companies have risen in the past decade that produce chairs specifically meant for gaming. Stocking your gaming lounge with gaming chairs is a great addition, but really anything comfortable will work.

Proper Acoustics

Proper acoustics is the unsung hero of gaming lounges. Remember, we are looking to create an immersive atmosphere here, and dialing in your acoustics is critical to your mission. 

You don’t want to play a video game and hear street sounds out of a nearby window, or kitchen sounds from a neighboring room full of people having a good time. You also don’t need to hear reverberations and echoes from all kinds of games being played simultaneously! We must properly design the gaming lounge to make an acoustic and comfortable space where immersive gaming environments can unfold.

A Quick Acoustics Lesson: Soundproofing vs. Sound Control

When discussing acoustical treatment of any space with customers, I like to start with the basics so they fully understand the components and products to achieve their vision. The main thing to understand with improving acoustics in a space is the difference between soundproofing and sound control.

Often mixed up, these are two very different aspects of acoustics. Soundproofing means blocking sound, whether from inside or out. For a gaming lounge, perhaps the lounge is one business of many in a strip mall. You don’t want the sounds from the neighboring businesses to come through the walls and disrupt the gaming experience. You also don’t want the gaming experience leaking out through the walls,annoying your neighbors! This is where soundproofing is critical – blocking sounds from outside coming in and interfering with the experience.

Sound control is for making the sound within your gaming lounge better. By better, I mean cleaning up reverberation and echoes to make the sound cleaner and better heard. Considering that the best and most popular video games in the world have fantastic soundtracks and sounds, you want them to be heard as they were meant to be heard, not all garbled together and messy. This is where sound control comes into play.

In essence, soundproofing creates your foundation and sound control makes the sounds emitted in your space sound as perfectly as they can be, by providing the optimal atmosphere for a fully-immersive gaming experience.

How to Acoustically Treat a Gaming Lounge

As I mentioned, soundproofing is the foundation, so that’s where we’ll begin:

Soundproofing a Gaming Lounge

To create our base from which to craft the best acoustics, we start with soundproofing. This will include treating the ceiling, walls, doors, windows, and floors.

Ceiling

Depending on the type of ceiling you have, it may be wise to add soundproofing elements. If you have a drop ceiling with ceiling tiles, there is an easy soundproofing fix: acoustic ceiling tiles. Our PrivacyShield® Soundproofing Sound Barrier Ceiling Tiles work double duty to provide excellent soundproofing and eliminate reverberation through sound control (more on this below!). 

Walls and Non-Drop Ceiling

Properly treating walls and drywalled ceilings may take an extra bit of effort, but it is fully worth the results to create the right acoustic experience for your gaming room. I recommend the combination of our AudioSeal® Mass Loaded Vinyl (MLV) Soundproofing Barrier, Resilient Sound Isolation Clips (RSIC-1), and Green Glue Noiseproofing Compound. After removing drywall, apply the three products, install new drywall, and your ceilings and walls are soundproofed, and ready for sound control materials to perfect the sound!

Floors

The importance of soundproofing the floor really has to do with foot traffic. Ideally you will have many customers in your gaming lounge, and all of those footfalls create unwanted impact noise to your downstairs neighbors. A great way to solve this issue is with Iso-Step® Soundproofing Underlayment. It is applied beneath the finished flooring and will dramatically lessen noise from foot traffic. When applying the underlayment, I suggest using Iso-Step® Soundproofing Underlayment Adhesive as the adhesive has Impact Insulation Class (IIC) and Sound Insulation Class (STC) ratings of 68 dB with full floor to ceiling assembly using both the Iso-Step Underlayment and adhesive. Once complete, finish the floor with your preferred flooring material.

Doors and Windows

Sounds tend to leak in and out of windows and doors more than you would think, so it’s a great idea to make sure they are soundproofed appropriately. While you may not have many (or any) windows, our PrivacyShield® Window Seal Kit is an easy solution to make sure nothing is leaking in. Since windows and gaming don’t go together, adding heavy velour curtains to soundproofed windows will serve two purposes: to block light and control sound for the proper gaming experience.

Doors, on the other hand, are always a must! I have several door replacement options, including the Overly Quick Ship Metal Acoustical Door and the PrivacyShield® Soundproof Door, so you can replace your doors entirely in favor of soundproofed doors.

If you already have dense doors and just need to worry about the gaps at the tops, sides, and bottom, we have the PrivacyShield® Soundproofing Door Seal Kit and an Automatic Door Bottom to get those gaps filled and make sure noise can’t enter or exit.

Perfecting Gaming Room Acoustics with Sound Control

Now that we’ve got the hard part out of the way and laid the foundation for great acoustics with a properly soundproofed room, it’s time to control the sound so your gamers get the full experience they’re looking for.

Acoustic panels are a great place to start. They are hung on walls to limit reverberation and echoes so the sound coming from speakers isn’t garbled or muddied. Our AlphaSorb® Fabric Wrapped Acoustic Panels are a fantastic choice and offer a huge selection of acoustic fabric options to match your aesthetic.

Maybe even better for your gaming lounge, our AlphaSorb® Quick Ship Custom Art Acoustic Panels can be custom designed with specific graphics tailored to gaming that you supply and have the rights to reproduce.

Acoustic panels are typically only half the battle, as we also need to treat the low end of the sound spectrum. To avoid boomy, muddy bass frequencies, bass traps are required. I suggest our AlphaSorb® Fabric Wrapped Acoustic Foam Bass Trap so you have the aesthetic options to match your choice in acoustic panels.

Find the Best Acoustic Products to Treat Your Gaming Room with Acoustical Solutions

Gaming continues to be massively popular and there’s no reason to think that it won’t continue, especially as Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality devices improve. It suggests that gaming lounges aren’t a historical oddity, but a great business idea with room to run. To get the most out of it, treating your gaming room acoustically is just as important as having good computers, gaming consoles, screens, and internet connection.

If you’d like help planning the acoustic treatment of your unique space, please give me a call today!

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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.