Huntingdale Golf Club Boardroom Acoustic Upgrade

The Challenge

Boardrooms and meeting rooms are designed for communication, decision-making, and collaboration. But when acoustics are overlooked, even the most beautifully designed space can become frustrating to use. This was the case at the boardroom of Huntingdale Golf Club, where excessive echo and poor sound clarity were making meetings difficult. Modern boardrooms often prioritise aesthetics and architectural finishes over acoustic performance. Glass walls, polished tables, plaster ceilings, and minimal soft furnishings create sleek interiors but produce an unintended acoustic consequence: excessive reverberation. At Huntingdale Golf Club, the boardroom was frequently used for executive meetings, presentations, and corporate events. While the room looked impressive, users quickly noticed that the acoustics made communication harder than expected. Voices reflected repeatedly off the walls, ceiling, and table surfaces. As sound energy bounced around the room, speech became slightly blurred and difficult to follow, particularly during longer meetings or when multiple people spoke. This type of acoustic issue is common in boardrooms and meeting rooms because the surfaces in these spaces are usually hard and reflective. Without sound absorption, the room amplifies its own noise. Instead of sound fading naturally after someone speaks, it lingers in the room, overlapping with the next voice. Before acoustic treatment was installed, reverberation measurements confirmed the problem. The average reverberation time in the boardroom measured 0.88 seconds across key speech frequencies.

The Solution

The solution was not soundproofing. Soundproofing is designed to stop sound travelling between rooms, but the problem here was sound reflecting inside the room itself. What the boardroom needed was sound absorption.

The club needed a solution that would:

-Improve speech clarity during meetings

-Reduce echo and background noise build-up

-Maintain the professional appearance of the boardroom

– Avoid major structural changes to the room

SoundFix Acoustics designed an acoustic treatment plan using high-performance ceiling acoustic panels specifically positioned to intercept reflections that were causing reverberation. Ceiling acoustic panels are particularly effective in boardrooms and meeting rooms because they address the main reflection surface above the table. When people speak in a meeting room, much of the sound energy travels upward and reflects off the ceiling before returning to listeners. By installing acoustic panels in the ceiling plane, these reflections are absorbed before they can bounce back into the room. This dramatically reduces echo and improves speech clarity. In addition to acoustic performance, the panels were chosen to integrate seamlessly with the interior design of the space. The treatment needed to feel intentional and professional rather than appearing as an afterthought.

The Installation

While this may not seem extreme compared with large halls, it is significant for a room designed for conversation. Boardrooms ideally operate closer to 0.5–0.6 seconds, where speech clarity is highest and discussions feel comfortable. At 0.88 seconds, the space produced noticeable echo build-up, particularly when multiple participants spoke or when presentations were delivered. Remote conferencing systems also struggled to capture clean audio.

Acoustic panels cannot simply be placed randomly. Their position, coverage, and spacing must be aligned with how sound travels through the room. Care was taken to maintain the visual symmetry of the boardroom and ensure that lighting, services, and ceiling features were preserved. The panels blended into the ceiling layout and enhanced the appearance of the space rather than disrupting it. The installation process was efficient and completed without disruption to the club’s operations. The boardroom remained functional throughout the upgrade and was ready for use immediately after the acoustic panels were installed. Because acoustic treatment works with existing structures, there was no need for structural alterations, renovations, or major construction work.

The Outcome

The results were measurable and immediate. Post-installation acoustic testing confirmed that the average reverberation time dropped from 0.88 seconds to 0.54 seconds, representing a 39% reduction in reverberation across the speech frequency range.

This reduction significantly improved the acoustic behaviour of the room. Speech became clearer and easier to follow. Conversations flowed more naturally without the subtle echo that previously blurred words. Participants no longer needed to raise their voices, and meetings felt noticeably calmer and more focused. The improvement was especially noticeable during group discussions and presentations. Multiple voices could now be understood without competing reflections filling the room.

Remote meetings also benefited from the upgrade. Video conferencing systems captured cleaner audio because the room no longer produced excessive reverberation that interfered with microphones.

Perhaps the most important outcome was how the room felt to use. Before the installation, meetings could feel tiring because the brain had to work harder to process speech in a reflective environment. After acoustic treatment, conversations became effortless again. This is the hallmark of successful acoustic design: the improvement is felt immediately, yet the panels themselves blend quietly into the architecture.

Before-and-After Acoustic Results

Before installation

Average RT60: 0.88 seconds

After installation

Average RT60: 0.54 seconds

The acoustic challenges seen at Huntingdale Golf Club are extremely common. Across offices, conference centres, corporate meeting rooms, and event spaces, acoustic problems typically arise because of the materials used in modern interiors. Hard surfaces such as glass, plasterboard, timber, and concrete reflect sound extremely efficiently. Without soft materials to absorb sound energy, reverberation increases and speech clarity suffers. This is why ceiling acoustic panels are one of the most effective solutions for boardrooms and meeting rooms.

If your boardroom, meeting room, or event space sounds echoey or difficult to communicate in, the issue is almost always reverberation. The good news is that it can usually be solved quickly with professionally designed acoustic treatment. SoundFix Acoustics specialises in ceiling acoustic panels, echo reduction, and noise control solutions for commercial spaces across Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney.