Acoustics plan for your dining room
Guests never say it was too loud. They just do not come back. Say what your dining room is made of and this sheet names the surface to treat, how many square metres you need and in what order — from what you can do this week to what a fitter has to come in for.
How it works
- 1
Say how big the room is
One number: how many guests it seats. The floor, the walls and the volume follow from it. Ceiling height and how much glass there is sit underneath.
- 2
Say what the room is made of
Per surface, pick what is there now: concrete or open joists, tiles or boards, bare glass or heavy curtains.
- 3
Read the work list
Per surface it says what to change, how many m² that is and what it buys. The list runs cheapest first and stops the moment the room lands in the band.
- 4
Print the plan
Take it to your supplier or your fitter: the square metres are on it, so you can ask for a quote against it.
What a room does to sound
Every surface in your room either swallows sound or throws it back. This is the ladder the plan works from — what a hard room has, and what you can put there instead.
| Surface | What a hard room has there | What you change it to | Effort |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ceiling | plastered ceiling | acoustic ceiling panels | have it fitted |
| Floor | tiles | carpet tiles | have it fitted |
| Walls | plastered wall | acoustic wall panels | have it fitted |
| Glass | bare glass | light curtains | this week |
| Seating | hard chairs | upholstered banquettes | building work |
| Tables | bare tables | tablecloths | this week |
| Soft goods | nothing soft | cushions and a door curtain | this week |
Five words you will meet on a quote
Ring an acoustics company and these five terms come back at you. Here is what they mean.
- Reverberation time
- How long a sound stays audible in an empty room after the source stops. For a dining room 0.45 to 0.8 seconds is comfortable; above a second guests start raising their voices and the whole room climbs with them.
- Absorption
- How much sound a surface swallows instead of throwing back. A tiled floor swallows almost nothing, a heavy curtain about half. What you buy is absorption, sold by the square metre.
- Absorption coefficient
- The number between 0 and 1 that says what share of the sound a material swallows. Manufacturers print it on the product sheet; the plan works with it.
- Lombard effect
- People automatically talk louder when it gets louder around them. That is why a room at eight o'clock is not twice but four times as trying as the same room at six.
- Baffle
- An absorbing panel hung loose below the ceiling rather than fixed to it. Useful when the ceiling is high, or when you want to leave the ducts and the lighting where they are.
Frequently asked questions
Where do I start if I can only do one thing?
The ceiling, almost always. It is the largest unbroken surface in the room and nothing competes for it — no tables, no guests, no furniture. A treated ceiling therefore buys more per square metre than any other surface. The plan simply does not put it first, because there is usually something cheaper to win before it.
Do tablecloths actually work?
Yes, but less than people hope. Your tables are a small surface next to the ceiling and the floor, so cloths buy tenths of a second, not whole ones. They lead the list because you can do them this afternoon, not because they are the biggest win.
Why does the room sound different when it is full?
Guests absorb sound themselves — clothes, hair and skin take a fair amount. So a full room rings less than an empty one. But people also talk louder into each other, and that weighs more. This plan therefore reckons with a room at 85 % occupancy: the moment the complaint arrives.
What if the plan says it cannot be fixed?
Then your room is a glass box under a concrete slab, and soft furnishings alone will not bring it into the band. The plan would rather say so than show one last step pretending to solve it. That is the point at which you want an acoustics company, and the square metres in this plan are a good start to that conversation.
Is this a real measurement?
No. It is a calculation from the materials you enter and a room shape derived from your seat count. For a licence or a neighbour complaint you need a measurement. To decide where to spend your money, this is more than enough.
How many m² do I need?
That is in the column beside each surface, because it depends on how big that surface is in your room. Those numbers are exactly what a supplier wants to hear when you ask for a quote.
This is a house document and an indication, not an acoustic survey. The figures are worked out from the materials you enter and from a room shape derived from your seat count. For a licence, a neighbour complaint or a dispute you need a real measurement. Noise limits for music differ per country and per licence: check your own licence and house rules.