Gowrie Carlton Early Learning Centre Acoustic Panels

The Challenge

A learning environment can look bright, welcoming and beautifully designed, yet still feel exhausting when the acoustics are wrong.

In an early learning centre, children talking, playing, moving and learning naturally create sound. The problem is not the children. The problem begins when that sound repeatedly reflects from hard ceilings, walls, glazing and other surfaces instead of being absorbed.

At Gowrie Carlton Early Learning Centre, SoundFix Acoustics was engaged to address reverberation across the corridor and two learning areas. The project combined targeted acoustic treatment with a visually considered design, using high-performance acoustic panels and custom circular acoustic elements.

Most importantly, the improvement was measured. At Gowrie Carlton, SoundFix established pre-installation RT60 measurements across three areas. The corridor recorded 1.04 seconds, while Outdoor Areas 1 and 2 each recorded 0.79 seconds. RT60 measures how long it takes sound to decay by 60 dB after the source stops. The longer sound remains in a space, the greater the potential for reverberation to interfere with speech. This was therefore an acoustic treatment project rather than a soundproofing project. Soundproofing is primarily concerned with reducing sound transmission between spaces; the goal here was to absorb reflected sound within the learning environment.

SoundFix explains this distinction further in our guide to acoustic treatment vs soundproofing.

The Solution

SoundFix approached the project by identifying the large reflective surfaces contributing to reverberation and introducing sound absorption where it could have the greatest practical effect. In the corridor, high-NRC acoustic ceiling panels were installed across the primary reflective ceiling area, together with custom acoustic circles designed to contribute both acoustic absorption and visual interest.The two outdoor learning areas required a different approach. Here, custom acoustic circles were combined with acoustic wall panels positioned across key reflective wall surfaces. Rather than treating every area identically, the acoustic solution responded to the surfaces and conditions within each space. This is an important part of effective early learning centre acoustics. The goal is not simply to install as many panels as possible. Panel type, quantity, positioning and available surface area all influence the final result. Sound absorption also needed to work with the architecture rather than dominate it. The circular elements create a strong visual feature while performing an acoustic function – particularly valuable in education and childcare environments where interior design contributes to the character of the learning space.

Learn more about how acoustic ceiling panels and acoustic wall panels can be integrated into commercial and educational spaces.

The Installation

Good acoustic performance starts with the right recommendation, but it also depends on how that recommendation is translated into the finished space.

SoundFix Acoustics provides an end-to-end service encompassing assessment, acoustic recommendations, product selection, supply, installation and post-installation verification. At Gowrie Carlton, the installation was designed around the different characteristics of each treated area. The corridor treatment made use of the ceiling – one of the room’s major reflective surfaces – with high-NRC panels providing substantial sound absorption while custom circles introduced another layer of acoustic treatment and design.

Across Outdoor Areas 1 and 2, acoustic circles and wall-mounted absorption were positioned to address the available reflective surfaces. The photographs included in the SoundFix verification report show how the completed treatment becomes part of the architecture rather than appearing as an afterthought.Just as importantly, SoundFix returned after installation to measure the result using the same calibrated NTi Audio XL2 acoustic analyser, speaker placement and measurement positions used for the baseline assessment. This made the before-and-after results directly comparable. That verification step turns acoustic improvement from a subjective impression into something measurable.

The Outcome

The Gowrie Carlton project demonstrates what that process can achieve: measured reverberation reductions of 57%, 37% and 41% across three different areas of the same early learning environment. Noise in an early learning environment cannot and should not, simply be eliminated. Children need to communicate, explore, play, collaborate and express themselves.

The objective of good childcare acoustics is therefore not silence. It is control. Reducing unnecessary reflected sound helps prevent normal activity from building into an acoustically overwhelming environment. Speech becomes easier to distinguish against surrounding activity, and educators do not have to compete as heavily with the room itself.

This is why acoustic treatment should be considered as part of the quality of an educational environment, particularly in rooms containing large hard and reflective surfaces.

For centres experiencing echo, the first step is understanding why the sound is persisting and where absorption will be most effective.

Our guide to what you can do to reduce echo explains the fundamentals, while our guide to acoustic panels, their benefits and how they work provides more detail.

Before-and-After Acoustic Results

The post-installation testing demonstrated a clear improvement across all three treated areas.

The strongest result was recorded in the corridor, where RT60 fell from 1.04 seconds to 0.45 seconds- a 57% reduction. The report also found that the important 500 Hz–2 kHz speech-frequency range measured between 0.38 and 0.52 seconds following treatment.

In Outdoor Area 1, RT60 decreased from 0.79 seconds to 0.49 seconds, representing a 37% reduction.

In Outdoor Area 2, RT60 decreased from 0.79 seconds to 0.47 seconds, delivering a 41% reduction.

The SoundFix post-installation report states that the corridor and Outdoor Area 2 met the company’s 40–60% reverberation-reduction guarantee, while Outdoor Area 1’s 37% result was classified as approaching that range.

The report further records that the treated spaces achieved post-installation results within the referenced AS/NZS 2107:2016 ≤0.8-second design standard used in the assessment, with substantially improved speech clarity.

For Gowrie Carlton, this means the acoustic treatment did more than change how the spaces looked. It produced a measured reduction in reverberation where children and educators spend their day.