You can have the best guitar player in the world play your favorite song.  Be it Prince, Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page, anyone.  But if you give them an out of tune instrument, it won’t sound very good.  And, if you were to provide a meticulously engineered, handcrafted, finely tuned guitar to a toddler; you also won’t get the results you intended.  The same is true for the design of your organization’s conference room and work spaces.  The best design and construction possible will be lacking without the appropriate technology and integration; likewise, a state-of-the-art platform will be held back by lackluster design and acoustics.  This is why you need both.

Unfortunately, during the design process, both acoustics and AV integration tend to be overlooked.  This becomes an issue when these spaces are finally put to use.  While a room can be beautifully designed and built, with the vision transitioning seamlessly from paper to reality, the practical use of the room from a technological and functional standpoint can lead to frustration.  Communication, collaboration, reliability, and ease of use all suffer when acoustics and integration aren’t considered.  To avoid this, there are a couple of acoustical issues should be addressed before construction.

• Sound isolation helps to avoid noise disturbance. Not only does it isolate outside noise, it prevents interior, private conversations from leaving the room.  This can be achieved with STC (sound transmission class) wall types, and doors with acoustical seals.  Often small adjustments can be made to plans that can simply enhance the acoustics of a room.  Walls that extend from slab to slab and common return air ducts are a couple of examples.

• The room’s finishes should create an ideal acoustical environment that is conducive for discussion.  An excessively reverberant boardroom creates communication challenges for both in-person meetings and as well as audio and video conferences.  By using wall-to-wall ceiling finishes that naturally amplify sound, and simultaneously reduces reverberation, the sound quality in this space will be dramatically improved. 

Following these principles, and addressing the acoustic needs of your conference room and other workspaces can go a long way in improving the productivity of your meetings.  Combined with a strategic AV integration design, your collaboration and communication efforts can be enhanced even further.  Link Integration Group is a commercial integration firm that helps businesses, organizations, and government agencies design, develop, install, and service AV solutions.