Why school acoustics matter

Learning is communication. If a classroom is too reverberant — meaning sound takes too long to fade away — students miss keywords, teachers raise their voices, and the room becomes tiring for everyone in it.

A few reasons NZ schools tend to struggle acoustically:

• Hard, easy-clean surfaces — vinyl floors, plasterboard walls, exposed concrete soffits
• Glass partitions and large windows that support visual connectivity but reflect sound
• Open-plan and flexible layouts where multiple groups work in the same volume
• Modular and prefabricated buildings with light wall and ceiling assemblies

The Ministry of Education's DQLS Acoustics document calls this build-up the café effect — when one group raises its voice over another, then the next group raises theirs, and so on. Sound absorption is the primary tool for breaking that loop.

What DQLS Acoustics actually requires

DQLS — Designing Quality Learning Spaces — is the Ministry of Education's design framework for school buildings. The Acoustics document (currently version 3.1) sets mandatory minimum requirements for new builds and significant refurbishments where preliminary design started after 1 January 2021. It is not optional guidance for those projects.

DQLS Acoustics covers four core areas:

• Reverberation time (RT) — how long sound takes to fade in a room
• Sound transmission (STC) — how well walls, floors and openings block sound between rooms
• Impact insulation (IIC) — footfall and impact noise through floors
• Indoor ambient noise — background levels from outside, plant and building services

Acoustic panels address the first of these — reverberation and the build-up of activity noise inside a room. It's the most common acoustic problem in NZ schools, and the area where well-placed panels make the biggest practical difference to how a room feels and functions.

What acoustic panels do — and what they don't

Acoustic panels are absorbers. As sound enters their porous structure, energy is converted to a small amount of heat. That reduces:

• Reflections off hard surfaces
• Reverberation time
• Activity noise build-up (the café effect)
• Echo, flutter and "boomy" rooms

What acoustic panels are not: they are not soundproofing. Panels won't stop sound passing from one classroom to the next — that's controlled by the wall construction and its STC rating. Absorption inside a room and insulation between rooms solve different problems.

Choosing the right panel thickness

Versare's SoundSorb tiles and panels are 18 mm. That's a deliberate choice: it's the thickness that hits the sweet spot for school environments — strong absorption across the speech range, light enough to retrofit without structural work, and visually low-profile on walls.

Where 18 mm SoundSorb is the right choice

• Wall coverage in classrooms, libraries, breakout rooms and staff rooms
• Retrofit installations where weight and visual bulk matter
• Speech-range absorption (the panel is optimised for 500 Hz – 2 kHz, where speech sits)
• Ceiling baffles, canopies and clouds — where an air cavity behind the panel lifts performance to NRC 0.90 (see Section 5)
• School halls and gyms, as part of a distributed treatment package

For the spaces that make up the bulk of any NZ school — classrooms, libraries, breakout rooms, staff rooms, halls and gyms — 18 mm SoundSorb is doing the job day in and day out.

NRC and why mounting method matters

NRC (Noise Reduction Coefficient) is a single-figure rating between 0 and 1 — the average sound absorption a product provides across mid-frequency bands. Higher is better. NRC 0.6 means the product absorbs about 60% of the sound energy hitting it.

A few things many spec sheets don't make obvious:

• NRC depends on the mounting method. The same panel measures differently against a wall vs. suspended with an airgap behind it.
• An airgap improves low-frequency absorption — sometimes substantially.
• Real-world performance also depends on coverage area, room volume, ceiling height and what the rest of the room is made of.

SoundSorb tested performance

Direct-mount tested per ASTM C423-17 by Element Materials Technology (St Paul, MN, USA), report ESP032172P-4. Cavity-mount tested by SGS-CSTC / Center for Building Environment Test, Tsinghua University, report SHIN2005024279CM. Suspended ceiling baffles, ceiling canopies and frame-mounted wall installations all achieve NRC up to 0.90 in the same family of mounting conditions.

Typical school applications

Retrofit-friendly acoustic improvements

Most NZ schools are existing buildings — the Ministry's portfolio is over 18,000 buildings across more than 2,100 schools. Wholesale acoustic redesign is rarely an option, and often unnecessary. Targeted retrofit treatment can shift a difficult room into a usable one without major construction.

SoundSorb-based acoustic treatment is well suited to retrofit work because it's:

• 100% polyester fibre with 50% post-consumer recycled PET content — manufactured adhesive-free, low-VOC, formaldehyde-free
• Lightweight (≈ 3.1 kg/m² surface density) and 18 mm thick — no fibreglass, no off-gassing concerns for occupied spaces
• Moisture resistant and colourfast — appropriate for NZ school environments
• Suitable for direct adhesive, panel-pin mounts, button-fix systems, frame mounting, or suspended baffles and clouds
• Available in tiles, sheets and standard panel sizes for staged budget cycles — install room-by-room, starting with the worst rooms first

For schools tackling acoustic problems over a budget cycle rather than in a single project, modular treatment fits the constraints better than full re-fitouts.

Versare's role

We supply tested acoustic absorption products that contribute to RT compliance and good speech intelligibility. We don't certify acoustic compliance, and we don't replace an acoustic engineer's design work. For DQLS-bound projects, we supply the specified products and provide the test data your engineer needs.

Frequently asked questions

What is reverberation time?

Reverberation time (RT) is how long it takes sound in a room to die away — specifically, the time for sound to drop by 60 dB after the source stops. Higher RT means a more echoey, "live" room. For a primary classroom, DQLS requires RT between 0.4 and 0.5 seconds (mid-frequency, unoccupied).

Why do classrooms echo?

Because sound bounces. Hard parallel surfaces — plasterboard walls, vinyl floors, glass, exposed concrete — reflect almost all the sound that hits them. The more reflective surface area, the longer sound persists, and the harder it is to understand speech.

What is the café effect?

When several groups talk in the same room, each group raises its voice to be heard over the others. That makes the room louder, which makes the next group louder, and so on. DQLS calls this out specifically as one of the main reasons large learning spaces fail without good absorption.

What does NRC 0.6 mean?

NRC (Noise Reduction Coefficient) is the average proportion of sound a material absorbs across mid-frequency bands. NRC 0.6 means the material absorbs roughly 60% of the sound energy hitting it. Higher numbers are better.

Does an air gap improve acoustic performance?

Yes — particularly at lower frequencies. The same panel mounted with an air cavity behind it (as a ceiling cloud, suspended baffle, or frame-mounted off a wall) typically achieves a substantially higher NRC than when adhered flat to a hard surface. SoundSorb moves from NRC 0.60 (direct wall mount, no air gap) to NRC 0.90 with a 200 mm air cavity.

Are acoustic panels the same as soundproofing?

No. Acoustic panels absorb sound inside a room. Soundproofing — properly called sound insulation — stops sound passing between rooms, and is controlled by wall and floor construction (mass, framing, seals). The two are complementary but solve different problems.

How many acoustic panels does a classroom need?

It depends on room volume, ceiling height, existing surfaces and the target RT. A 60 m² primary classroom with hard floors typically needs both ceiling and wall treatment to hit DQLS RT targets. Use our acoustic calculator for a starting estimate, or get in touch and we'll talk you through the right coverage for your space.

Can acoustic panels help open-plan and flexible learning spaces?

Yes — but volume coverage matters. Large open spaces need treatment well distributed across walls and ceiling, not concentrated on one surface. DQLS recommends absorption on at least two perpendicular walls plus the ceiling, with thicker low-wall absorbers below 1.8 m for horizontal reflection control.

Are acoustic panels suitable for school halls?

Yes — halls are one of the most common acoustic challenges in NZ schools, and where good panel coverage makes a dramatic difference. The fix is distributed treatment: wall coverage on at least two perpendicular walls (rule of thumb: at least 20% of ceiling area), plus ceiling absorption — usually as suspended baffles or canopies, where SoundSorb reaches NRC 0.90. SoundSorb is suited to all of these roles.

What thickness acoustic panel is best?

For school environments — classrooms, libraries, breakout rooms, staff rooms, halls and gyms — 18 mm SoundSorb is the right choice. It's optimised for the speech range (500 Hz – 2 kHz), light enough to retrofit, and reaches NRC 0.90 when mounted as a suspended baffle or canopy.

Can acoustic panels be retrofitted into existing schools?

Yes — most NZ school acoustic projects are retrofits. Lightweight PET panels can be adhered, mechanically fixed or suspended without structural work, and can be installed room by room across a budget cycle.

Do acoustic panels help speech clarity?

Yes. Reducing reverberation and reflections improves the speech-to-noise ratio at students' ears, which is what speech intelligibility actually depends on. The research base behind DQLS is consistent on this.

What is DQLS Acoustics?

DQLS Acoustics — part of the Ministry of Education's Designing Quality Learning Spaces series — sets the mandatory acoustic requirements and design guidance for NZ school buildings. It covers reverberation, sound insulation, impact insulation and indoor noise levels. Compliance is required for new builds and significant refurbishments where preliminary design started after 1 January 2021.

Are acoustic panels suitable for SEN learning spaces?

Often yes. Students with hearing impairment, autism spectrum sensitivities or language-acquisition needs are particularly affected by activity noise and reverberation. Well-controlled acoustics support both learning and wellbeing. DQLS Section 2.8 (Inclusive Design) covers this in more detail; bespoke design may be needed for dedicated units.

Do ceiling baffles work better than wall panels?

Neither is universally better. DQLS guidance is to distribute absorption across all three axes (ceiling and at least two perpendicular walls). Ceiling baffles benefit from the air cavity behind them — SoundSorb baffles reach NRC 0.90 with a 200 mm cavity — but they don't address horizontal reflections at ear height. That's what wall absorbers do. Most rooms benefit from a combination.

Do SoundSorb panels meet NZ Building Code fire requirements?

SoundSorb panels carry a Class A interior wall and ceiling finish rating under ASTM E84-16 (US testing, IBC 2018 Section 803), with Flame Spread Index 0 and Smoke Developed Index 450. These are US ratings, not NZ Building Code certifications. For projects requiring NZBC fire compliance documentation, please confirm acceptance with your architect, fire engineer or consent authority — we can supply the ASTM test report.

Are SoundSorb panels safe and sustainable for school environments?

SoundSorb is 100% polyester fibre with 50% post-consumer recycled PET content. The manufacturing process is adhesive-free, the panels are low-VOC and formaldehyde-free, and they contain no fibreglass. They're moisture resistant and colourfast for typical school use, and recyclable through specialist PET streams at end of life.

Related ranges: 300 Series · 500 Series · The Brick · Ceiling Baffles · Hush Panels · Acoustic Sheets