In your conference room, where confidential or important business deals take place, you need to ensure that your conversation isn’t heard throughout the rest of the office. If the walls in the conference room are thin, you may not easily be able to change the walls completely (who can?). However, this noise control problem can certainly be improved, as I found when I recently had to tackle sound issues in our own conference room. Adding pieces that will absorb the sound waves will ensure that your conference room is more soundproof and stylish.
Rugs are sound’s worst friend.
A thick textured area rug is not only stylish, but also absorbs sound. The texture diverts the sound from traveling through the walls, especially if all you have are hard surfaces in this space. When picking the rug that is best suited for your conference room, don’t forget to take into account the foot traffic but the fluffier, the better. I suggest picking a rug that either a cool tone or a fun pattern. Also, if the chairs in the conference room roll, try rolling around in the chairs on the rug. You’d be surprised how difficult and frustrating it is to move around in a chair that gets caught in the rug’s material.
Try to avoid glass.
I am not a scientist, but I do know that glass is not a good sound absorber. I suggest minimizing the use of large mirrors in your conference room. If you have a large accent wall that you are trying to decorate, instead of using a mirror you can use a large canvas print or mural. This will add color and décor to your conference room. Or, you can even add a cork board to the space. This also will help insulate the sound and can be functional during the meetings.
Add insulation to the ceiling.
In many corporate buildings, the ceiling insulation is standard and poor quality. If your conference room emits a lot of sound through the walls, you can look into adding thicker insulation to your ceiling or walls. Although this may be expensive, insulation is a great investment and will last a long time. You can also look at getting acoustic wall panels though they are definitely not very pretty to look at.
Your conference room needs to be sound proof to ensure privacy for your co-workers. Is your conference room in need of sound proofing? Let us know on twitter: @myturnstone and @officestylist.