McKinnon Church Acoustic Treatment

The Challenge

Church halls have a unique acoustic job to perform. One moment the room may need to support a single person speaking; the next it may contain music, conversation or a larger community gathering. When reverberation is excessive, each new sound arrives before the previous sound has sufficiently decayed. Speech can lose definition, individual voices become harder to distinguish and the overall room can feel louder and more tiring than it needs to be.

At McKinnon Reformed Presbyterian Church, SoundFix’s pre-installation acoustic testing recorded a reverberation time of 1.55 seconds. The frequency measurements also demonstrated how sound persisted through important speech frequencies. Before treatment, the measured reverberation reached 1.48 seconds at 500 Hz and 1.62 seconds at both 1 kHz and 2 kHz. This was therefore not simply a perception that the hall was “echoey”. SoundFix had measurable data showing how the room was behaving before treatment. The architecture also needed to be respected. The timber beams and pitched ceiling contribute strongly to the character of the hall, so the acoustic solution needed to improve performance while remaining visually sympathetic to the existing interior.

The Solution

SoundFix approached the project as an acoustic treatment problem rather than a soundproofing problem.

Soundproofing generally deals with limiting sound transmission from one space to another. Here, the objective was different: reduce the amount of sound reflecting and lingering inside the room.

The treatment therefore introduced sound-absorbing acoustic panels across the ceiling, followed by additional wall treatment. Ceiling acoustic panels were particularly appropriate because the ceiling offered a large area where absorption could be introduced without occupying valuable floor space or interfering with how the hall is used.

Rather than reflecting a high proportion of incident sound back into the room, acoustic panels absorb sound energy. This helps sound decay more quickly, reducing reverberation and supporting clearer communication. SoundFix also considers the relationship between the room, its reflective surfaces and available treatment areas rather than treating every project with the same panel layout. You can read more about how acoustic panels work and their role in reducing reverberation.

The Installation

The finished installation shows how acoustic performance can be incorporated into an existing building without overwhelming its architecture.

Light-coloured ceiling panels were positioned throughout the pitched ceiling areas and carefully arranged around the existing timber beams, lighting, fans and other building elements. The colour selection allows the treatment to visually recede into the ceiling while the darker timber structure remains a defining architectural feature. This is especially important in churches and community halls. An acoustic upgrade should improve how the room functions without making it feel as though acoustic products were simply added as an afterthought.

SoundFix’s measurements also provide an interesting picture of how the treatment developed. Following the ceiling panel installation, reverberation time was measured at 0.84 seconds, compared with the original 1.55 seconds. Additional wall acoustic treatment was then incorporated. Following the combined ceiling and wall panel installation, the measured reverberation time reached 0.80 seconds. The project demonstrates why the placement of acoustic treatment matters. Ceiling and wall panels can work together to address reflections travelling through different planes of a room, particularly in spaces with significant reverberation.

The Outcome:

The final acoustic measurements provide clear evidence of the change achieved at McKinnon Reformed Presbyterian Church.

The original RT60 of 1.55 seconds was reduced to 0.80 seconds, representing approximately a 48% reduction in reverberation time.

The improvement can also be seen across the measured frequency spectrum.

At 500 Hz, reverberation reduced from 1.48 to 0.81 seconds. At 1 kHz, it reduced from 1.62 to 0.79 seconds, while at 2 kHz it decreased from 1.62 to 0.76 seconds. At 4 kHz, the measurement fell from 1.35 to 0.71 seconds.

These measurements are important because they demonstrate that the treatment changed the actual acoustic behaviour of the room.

For SoundFix, this is an essential part of acoustic improvement. Where before-and-after testing forms part of the project, we can establish the existing condition, install the required acoustic treatment and then measure the treated space to demonstrate the result.

At McKinnon, that result is clear:

1.55 seconds → 0.80 seconds → 48% reverberation reduction.

Speak to SoundFix Acoustics

People should be able to focus on the speaker, conversation, music or activity rather than consciously fighting against the room. This is particularly relevant for a venue such as McKinnon Reformed Presbyterian Church. The congregation holds Sunday worship as well as regular prayer, study, youth and community activities. A single room may therefore need to accommodate very different types and levels of sound.

When reverberation is excessive, increasing the volume does not necessarily solve the problem. Louder speech can introduce even more sound energy into an already reflective environment. Effective church acoustic treatment addresses the room instead. By adding carefully positioned sound absorption, SoundFix can help reduce persistent reflections and create a more controlled acoustic environment while respecting the architecture and purpose of the building.

The same principle applies to churches, community halls, function rooms, sporting clubs, schools and other multipurpose facilities across Melbourne.