Commercial Wooden Acoustic Panels

What are LIGNO® Wooden Acoustic Panels?

Lignotrend Commercial Acoustic Panels in an Office

LIGNO® Acoustic Light sound absorbing panels absorb and reduce reverberation and echo within a room to create a much more ambient and stress-free environment. This makes speech and music significantly clearer and more intelligible and creates a calmer atmosphere within the space.

The high quality, German made, LIGNO® commercial acoustic panels are made from natural timber slats with a wood fibre absorption backing and offer a contemporary and visually pleasing finished solution.

LIGNO® Acoustic Light Finished Surface Options

LIGNO® Acoustic Light offers a large range of surface finishes. If you wish to add LIGNO® acoustic panels to a smaller space, we recommend that you look at our Domestic Range where there are more options available.

Finished Surface Options

Listen to the Difference:

Hear for yourself how LIGNO® Acoustic panels can make your living spaces quieter. In Lignotrend’s new video, they do a before and after comparison. There is no longer any echoing and the noise level in the room is significantly reduced. We apologise that the video is in the German language, but you can clearly hear the difference in sound quality.

Benefits of LIGNO® Acoustic Light

  • Lower reverberation time
  • Reduce background noise levels
  • Improve speech clarity and intelligibility
  • Improve sound quality and room acoustics
  • Breathable panels which can absorb water vapour
  • Will not warp over time due to cross laminated structure
  • Very high quality boards, resistant to impacts from ball games
  • Ecological and sustainable – ‘natureplus’ certified
  • Timeless appeal due to natural timber finish
  • Can be painted without any loss of acoustic absorption
  • Long-term performance and reliability
  • Choice of finished design and timber finishes

Resources:

Want to learn more about LIGNO® Acoustic Light?

Do you want to create beautiful wooden slatted wall and ceiling designs in commercial settings in UK and Ireland, with excellent sound absorption qualities?

LIGNO® wooden acoustic panels from Lignotrend serve two very important functions in commercial settings – they are very visually pleasing while at the same time they absorb unwanted background noise. They are used to create an ambient acoustic environment within a space due to the reduction in reverberation time. The premium solid silver fir or oak wooden acoustic panels have been tested extensively for their sound absorption qualities.

Excellent acoustic absorption results can be achieved in auditoriums, sports halls, community halls, schools, open-plan offices, recording studios, public buildings, factories, theatres, restaurants and hotels. They can also be installed in open-plan homes although the LIGNO® Acoustic Home option is probably more suitable.

What is sound absorption?

Sound absorption refers to the loss of sound energy when sound waves come into contact with an absorbent material such as LIGNO® Acoustic Light panels, meaning that some of this sound is absorbed rather than reflected back into the room.  Room acoustic panels work by absorbing sound waves that bounce off hard surfaces, such as walls, floors and ceilings. The wood fibre layer at the back of the LIGNO® wooden acoustic panels is fibrous and therefore absorbent, so reduces the level of echo and sound waves that travel within the room. A long reverberation time can make a room sound loud and noisy and it causes speech to appear muffled and unclear.  When LIGNO® timber acoustic wall and ceiling panels are correctly placed around a room, they enhance speech intelligibility and significantly improve audio quality to make the room much more usable and pleasant. We can calculate how many panels are required to provide the optimum reverberation time suited to the function of the room in question.  The average reverberation times required in offices, restaurants, sports halls, theatres, classrooms, auditoriums and other commercial settings are all a little different.

Why are acoustic absorption panels important in commercial settings?

Adding acoustic absorption panels to your commercial space can significantly enhance comfort and well-being for the employees, audience, customers, room users etc. If very long reverberation times exist in a room, the sound quality will be extremely poor and the people in the room may not be able to clearly hear what others are saying. This can lead to poor concentration and stress which is particularly detrimental in learning and work environments. Irritating background noise can also create stress when people are relaxing or socialising in restaurants, hotels or sports centres. If there is excessive reverberation in rooms due to poor sound absorption, people tend to talk even louder to be heard, which only exacerbates the situation. Correctly placed acoustic absorption panels will ensure that the sound does not bounce all around the room, and that the people in the room will clearly be able to hear each other speak without the need to raise voices. Speech intelligibility and music clarity are greatly enhanced when LIGNO® acoustic panels are placed on the walls or ceilings because they reduce reverberation times and absorb echoes.

How are the LIGNO® Acoustic Light panels installed?

The panels can be installed on timber battens or metal studs. It is recommended to place mineral wool or other similar soft insulation in between the studs for added absorption. The studs can be fitted at 625mm centres in the same direction as the panels, so that the long edge of each LIGNO® panel meets on a stud. The panels can also be installed directly to a stud wall or timber joist ceiling, so in this case they can be installed perpendicularly to these studs or joists. We supply special screws suitable for timber or metal and these are inserted in the gap between the slats in the LIGNO® panel for a seamless finish.  The panels are installed in a brick bond formation.

Timber Battens: 30mm deep and 100mm wide

Metal Studs: As standard

The panels can also be installed directly to a timber surface, but the acoustic absorption will be hindered as an air gap behind the panels helps to absorb more sound frequencies.

Please refer to the LIGNO Acoustic Light Technical Brochure for more information. A video detailing the installation process can also be found here.

What Fire Class do the LIGNO® Acoustic Light panels come in?

All the wood types are available in Fire Class D-s1,d0 (old Class 3). Silver Fir timber is also available in C-s2,d0 (old Class 1) and B-s2,d0 (old Class 0) for most profiles. Oak timber is only available in Fire Class D-s1,d0 (old Class 3) except the 625-12-4 profile in oak veneer which is also available in C-s2,d0. See Commercial Surface Options for more information.

Are LIGNO® Acoustic Light Wall and Ceiling Panels available in Class A Sound Absorption?

Yes, there are Class A Sound Absorption options available with LIGNO® Acoustic Ceiling and Wall Panels.  This is the best possible sound absorption class on a scale of A to E.

The 625-12-4 and 625-23-8 panels in Silver Fir (3S-33) can be installed onto 30mm deep timber battens with 30mm mineral wool in the cavity to reach Class A.

The 625-20-4, 625-12n25-4 and 625-18n38-6 panels in Silver Fir (3S-33) can be installed onto 100mm deep timber battens with 30mm mineral wool in the cavity to reach Class A. See our Lignotrend Sound Absorption Results for more detailed information.

Sound Absorption Coefficient αW Absorption Classification Effect
0.90, 0.95, 1.00 Class A: 90 – 100% Excellent Absorption
0.80, 0.85 Class B: 80 – 85% High Absorption
0.60. 0.65, 0.70, 0.75 Class C: 60 – 75% Good Absorption
0.30, 0.35, 0.40,0.45. 0.50, 0.55 Class D: 30 – 55% Poor Absorption
0.15, 0.20, 0.25 Class E: 15 – 25% Reflecting Material

The material’s sound absorption coefficient, denoted as α, reveals the percentage of incoming sound that gets absorbed rather than bounced back into the room. When α is 0, none of the sound is absorbed, and it’s all reflected. On the other hand, an α of 1 indicates complete absorption with no reflection. An α of 0.5 means half the sound wave is absorbed. This measurement takes both the frequency of the sound and the direction it’s coming from into account. It gives us a mean value for how much sound at a specific frequency is absorbed from all directions.

In practice this means that fewer Class A LIGNO® Acoustic Light wall and ceilings panels are required to achieve the same reverberation time compared to acoustic panels with other sound absorption classes.

Do the LIGNO® Room Acoustic Panels enhance indoor air quality?

LIGNO® Room Acoustic Panels are made from natural timber and wood fibre insulation which sequester carbon dioxide during their growth, so are an ecological choice.  These wooden acoustic panels are vapour-open so they absorb and release humidity in a room, as required, which improves the air quality of the internal microclimate. It has been scientifically proven that the internal environment of a building is often polluted by emissions from the materials used in its construction. As an example, products containing formaldehyde and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) have been shown to emit higher emissions as temperature rises. Using natural building materials in the commercial setting will provide a comfortable and healthy living environment and LIGNO® wooden Acoustic Panels meet this requirement.

LIGNO® Acoustic Light Panels have a ‘natureplus’ eco-labelling which means that the manufacturers have not only met European minimum future standards for construction products, but that they have demonstrated that the properties far exceed them in relation to health, climate, environment and resource conservation. It sets exacting criteria for construction products and indoor health, requiring measured results from the lab, alongside criteria on embodied carbon. No other standard or labelling system is as stringent and all-encompassing, making ‘natureplus’ the most credible labelling system in use across Europe.

Can LIGNO® Acoustic Light Wooden Panels be used on Swimming Pool Ceilings or Walls?

Yes, LIGNO® wooden Acoustic Light Panels can be successfully used on swimming pool ceilings or high up on the walls so long as the moisture content in the panels does not exceed 20%. For safety reasons we would prefer if this moisture content level could be maintained at 15%. The humidity control on the ventilation system should be adjusted accordingly so that the relative humidity of the air combined with the room temperature, ensure a safe level of moisture content in the timber acoustic panels. The acoustic panels should not be low down on walls though as they may get splashed. We supply corrosion resistant screws for this application.

Can LIGNO® Acoustic Light Panels be used on Sports Hall walls?

Yes, LIGNO® Acoustic Sport Panels (3G-33) can be used on sports hall walls but they must be installed on a cross-battened wall structure to reduce injuries in the event of an impact by an athlete with the panels. This has also force-reducing properties. The Sport acoustic panels have chamfered timber slat edges to soften the surface which minimises the risk of injury. In addition, the wooden Sport acoustic panels are only available in Spruce, Beech and Oak timbers as these are harder timbers than Silver Fir, so better structurally when balls collide with the panels.

Profiles in chamfered design are only possible in the following two profiles:

  • 625-20-4-F (20mm slat width with 4mm gaps. F = chamfered edges)
  • 625-22n40-4-F (20-40mm variable slat widths with 4mm gap. F = chamfered edges)

What is the Difference between Acoustic Panels and Soundproofing Insulation Materials?

Acoustic panels or sound absorption panels absorb any frequencies of sound that are within the room itself so that the acoustical quality of the room will improve. Good sound absorbing materials must be soft, porous, airy and fibrous so the wood fibre absorber layer on the LIGNO® wooden acoustic panels is an excellent absorber. LIGNO® Acoustic Light panels can be applied to walls and ceilings to improve their sound absorption properties by minimising sound reflection, and therefore minimising the amount of reverberation that occurs in the room.

Soundproofing insulation materials reduce the transmission of sound from one room to another e.g. through a wall, floor or ceiling. Good sound insulation materials are heavy, dense but also have a soft element so that is why PhoneStar is such an effective soundproofing material.

So materials that are good at absorbing noise are soft and porous but these are poor at reducing noise passing through structures. Materials that are heavy and dense are better at reducing sound passing through them to the other side, but their hard surface means that sound in the room just reflects off them and so is not reduced in the room that the person is in. To reduce noise in this room, sound absorbing materials need to be installed on to the wall or ceiling surface.