Acoustic Tiles - FAQ

If a room sounds echoey, harsh, or tiring, acoustic tiles are often the simplest fix.

Hard surfaces such as plasterboard, glass, concrete, and ceilings reflect sound back into the room. That reflected sound builds up as echo and reverberation. Learn more.

• Reduces echo
• Improves speech clarity
• Makes conversations easier
• Reduces listening fatigue

They are particularly effective in meeting rooms, offices, classrooms, healthcare spaces, and shared environments where people speak regularly.

Thickness matters.

Versare SoundSorb tiles are 18mm thick.

Many decorative PET panels on the market are 9mm to 12mm thick. While these can improve aesthetics and provide some sound control, thinner panels generally absorb less sound energy, particularly in lower speech frequencies.

By comparison, 18mm panels:

• Contain more acoustic material
• Absorb more reflected sound energy
• Perform better across the speech frequency range
• Deliver more noticeable improvement at the same coverage percentage

In simple terms, more depth means more absorption. In most meeting rooms and offices, this translates to clearer speech and less echo for the same wall coverage.

Sound absorption performance is commonly expressed using NRC (Noise Reduction Coefficient). Learn more.

SoundSorb panels typically achieve an NRC around 0.6, which reflects meaningful absorption in everyday environments.

In most everyday rooms, treating around 25 percent of the reflective surfaces will create a noticeable improvement. This is known as the 25 percent rule.

To calculate tile quantity:

• Measure the wall area you want to treat
• Optionally include the ceiling
• Multiply that total area by 0.25
• Divide by the area of your chosen tile
• Round up to the nearest whole tile

Or use our free online acoustic tile calculator to do all the heavy lifting, see Online Calculator.

Starting at 25 percent avoids over-treating the room while still delivering strong acoustic results.

The 25 percent rule is a widely used rule of thumb in room acoustics.

It suggests that covering approximately 25 percent of a room’s reflective surfaces with sound-absorbing material is typically enough to significantly reduce echo and reverberation in everyday spaces. Learn more.

It is not a strict technical limit, it is a practical starting point that balances performance, cost, and visual impact.

In most cases:

• Start at 25 percent
• Assess the improvement
• Add more treatment only if required

This prevents rooms from feeling over-treated or acoustically flat.

Both approaches work.

• Walls only, often sufficient for smaller rooms
• Walls plus ceiling, helpful in larger rooms or rooms with hard ceilings
• A mix of both, usually provides the most balanced result

If ceiling access is limited, wall treatment alone can still make a significant difference.

If a wall is fully glazed and cannot be treated, simply exclude it from your calculation.

Apply the 25 percent rule to the remaining walls and optionally the ceiling. You can still achieve excellent results without treating every surface.

Start around typical head height.

In meeting rooms, this usually means seated head height, this is where most speech reflections occur.

From there:

• Spread tiles across multiple walls
• Avoid concentrating all treatment in one area
• Keep coverage balanced

Distributed treatment generally performs better than a single cluster.

SoundSorb is Versare’s PET-based acoustic panel material designed specifically to absorb speech-range noise.

It is:

• Made from dense PET fibres
• 18mm thick for enhanced performance
• Designed for surface mounting
• Suitable for offices, schools, and commercial spaces
• Engineered to reduce echo without making a room feel overly dead

Versare focuses on practical, right-sized solutions rather than over-engineering.

Our approach is to:

• Start with proven guidelines such as the 25 percent rule
• Use high-performance 18mm panels to maximise absorption per square metre
• Improve comfort and clarity without structural changes
• Allow rooms to be fine-tuned over time

The goal is better acoustics, made straightforward.

Yes, and this is encouraged.

It is generally better to:

• Start with around 25 percent coverage
• Assess the result in real use
• Add more treatment only if required

This keeps the space balanced and avoids unnecessary cost.

No, Versare is supply only.

SoundSorb acoustic tiles are designed as a practical, DIY-friendly solution for schools, offices, and commercial spaces that want improved acoustics without major construction.

However, we are happy to:

• Work directly with you
• Coordinate with your builder or installer
• Review fixing methods
• Sanity-check layout and coverage

We stand behind the performance of SoundSorb acoustic tiles.

3 Month Performance Guarantee

If your tiles do not make a noticeable improvement to your room acoustics, return them to us in within three months of the original delivery date and we will provide a full refund of the tile purchase price.

Please note:

• The guarantee applies to the tile purchase price only
• Freight and shipping costs are excluded
• The guarantee period begins from delivery

Product Warranty

SoundSorb tiles are also covered by our standard product warranty against defects in materials and workmanship, subject to normal use and correct installation.