Acoustics in sports halls
Indoor sports halls and gymnasia differ substantially from other secondary rooms in that they are very much larger spaces intended in general for teaching groups of active students. As a result, they have a dramatically different acoustic environment. Sports halls are rated as the most difficult learning space to hear in. Although design criteria for the acoustics of indoor sports halls and gymnasia are part of current building regulations, in practice it has been difficult for designers to achieve these standards. Sports Facilities such as sports halls and gymnasiums are large open spaces built to withstand years of use for a variety of sports. They are built with hard wall, floor and ceiling surfaces making them particularly poor acoustically. These spaces are often used for a variety of activities making their acoustic performance important in order to facilitate clear communication and provide an enjoyable atmosphere whether the activity is a school assembly or one of the many sports which are carried out in these environments.
Sports hall acoustics are typically reverberant due to a combination of large areas of hard block walls, corrugated steel ceilings and wooden floors along with high ceilings. To control a sports halls acoustics, a large amount of acoustically absorptive material has to be applied around the hall. A spray-on material has a distinct advantage over acoustic panels in this situation.
An important term we should talk about here is ‘’ reverberation time’’ Reverberation time: is the time required for the sound to “fade away” or decay in a closed space. Sound in a room will repeatedly bounce off surfaces such as the floor, walls, ceiling, windows or tables.
When these reflections mix, a phenomeon known as reverberation is created. Reverberation reduces when the reflections hit surfaces that can absorb sound such as curtains, chairs and even people.
For newly built sports halls reverberation time must not exceed 1.5 seconds (or 2.0 seconds if 280-530 m2).
For refurbished sports halls, reverberation time must not exceed 2.0 seconds, regardless of size.
Reflection and Sound Absorption
Once emitted from a source, sound waves in hall travel through the air until they reach a boundary surface or other obstacle. When a sound wave reaches a surface it will be partly reflected off the surface back into the hall and continue travelling in a new direction, and it will be partly absorbed by the surface with the absorbed energy being dissipated as heat. Sports facilities are particularly problematic when it comes to echo and reverberation due to the hard wall, floor and ceiling surfaces which are required to withstand years of use from sporting activities.
With the soft, absorptive core sitting flush against the walls of sports halls and the panels having a naked backing, they are fully impact resistant and ideal for sports halls and gymnasiums with high impact activities. The benefit of this solution is that you are able to choose almost any fabric you want to wrap the core with – giving you more design flexibility.
Acoustic solutions for sports halls by using Acoustic panels Acoustima® acoustic panel by Seatup Turkey® are sound absorbing panels that are hung on a wall or ceiling to control and reduce noise, eliminate slap echo in a room. The objective is to enhance the properties of sound by improving sound quality and soundproofing which concludes any means of reducing the sound pressure with respect to a specified sound source and receptor.
These sound absorbing panels come in a large variety of sizes, types and colours to meet your design, budgetary, and durability requirements.
Acoustima® acoustic panel by Seatup Turkey® timber acoustic panels provide an ideal solution to noise control in sports halls due to their ability to withstand high impact and resist damage. They can be easily installed to both wall and ceiling surfaces.
The panels come in a range of colours, making it easy to match the colour scheme of different sports halls and gymnasiums.
Acoustics solution in sports halls aim to facilitate good speech intelligibility and speaking conditions in teaching spaces, and to prevent interference by noise with study activities.
There is also a health and safety benefit with the Acoustima® acoustic panel by Seatup Turkey® -Panels as well, providing prevention of injuries from impact against walls during sport.
