Performance Acoustics Blog

The open-concept office layout has taken the corporate world by storm. Cubicles have been removed in an attempt to increase productivity and recruit new talent. Removing walls and barriers was supposed to foster a sense of community and camaraderie among the workforce. Words like “hip,” and “trendy,” were used to describe these office settings. Companies would spend big money to recreate their office, but the ROI never came. “Almost 70% of American employees now work in open-concept office,” according to Forbes article “Why the Open-Concept Office Trend Needs to Die.” Adding that, “Unfortunately, open office aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. They hurt our productivity, our job satisfaction and even our health.” The idea of an open office is dying. The hope that creating an open atmosphere would increase productivity not only fell flat, it decreased productivity. “Open offices increase communication, but not all communication is a good thing. A lot of the time, the conversation is more about what’s on TV than about actual work,” said Jennifer Veitch, an environmental psychologist with the National Research Council of Canada. According to “The Open Office Trap” article published in the New Yorker , “Organizational psychologist Matthew Davis found that, though open offices often fostered a symbolic sense or organizational mission, making employees feel like part of a more laid-back, innovative enterprise, they were damaging to the workers’ attention spans, productivity, creative thinking, and satisfaction.” Additionally, “Compared with standard offices, employees experienced more uncontrolled interactions, higher levels of stress and lower levels of concentration and motivation.” The sense of community and camaraderie quickly falls flat when you have no privacy. Imagine an open-concept neighborhood where the homes have no walls. Having no privacy doesn’t mean you feel connected to your neighbors, it makes you incredibly self-conscious. To put in a different perspective, that same Forbes article compared an open-concept office to a prison. “Think of Bentham’s Panopticon prison design, which was meant to force inmates to self-regulate their behavior. Unable to tell if they were being observed or not, the layout of their surroundings would lead them to assume they were being watched at all times and act accordingly.” Decreased productivity, lower office morale and no sense of job satisfaction is enough to make any company think twice about an open-concept office. In fact, it seems logical to go the opposite direction. A quiet office space may not seem trendy, but it does have its advantages. Commercial acoustic solutions is a way to get the best of both worlds. With professional-grade acoustics, an office will have the correct balance of decibels to decrease distractions and improve productivity. Moreover, executive and human resource offices need added privacy in order to maintain the confidentially of employees’ most sensitive information. Recently, our team at Performance Acoustics installed speciality acoustical insulation into two executive-level offices at XPO logistics, located in Ballantyne Corporate Place in Charlotte, N.C. “It’s imperative that we keep the sound isolated in our human resource and exec. offices due to the nature of the conversations that take place there. We want to respect and protect our employees’ privacy,” remarked XPO’s Operational Office Manager Alison Nixon. Acoustical engineering is installed in a variety of settings to optimize sound – arenas, churches, sound stages and even restaurants. Why should an office space neglect sound when it is the very place many spend eight to nine hours daily? More and more, corporate offices are reinvesting in professional-grade acoustical solutions in order to reduce the noise level to fit their particular workplace needs; and the ROI? It’s immediate – within day you’ll hear and notice the difference. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you make your office a more ideal place to work!

The Grotto is a popular special event venue for festive fun located in Charlotte, North Carolina’s Historic South End District. When opening The Grotto, owner David Wells knew that the event venue acoustics needed to be pitch perfect for the facility’s overall success. Proprietor David Wells opened The Grotto in 2014 as a passion project – a sharp veer away from his 15-year-long tenure in IT. Today, that passion project is a highly popular, 4,000-square-foot event venue that serves wedding receptions, corporate meetings, special events, live music events, fashion shows and more in the Charlotte area. Sitting squarely in Charlotte’s hip South End District, The Grotto is an all-brick, industrial structure. The building’s architecture lends the facility a chic ambiance with just a hint of edge. Yet, as with other warehouse spaces, hard surfaces on all sides – ceilings, walls and floors – gave The Grotto high reverberation times, or time it takes for sound to absorb in a room. In short, the higher the reverberation time, the more noisy and the more problematic the acoustics. Owner David Wells knew that the event venue acoustics needed to be pitch perfect for the facility’s overall success. So, David called acoustics specialists Performance Acoustics to assess the space and recommend and install specialty acoustical solutions that wouldn’t take away from the venue’s overall look. Performance Acoustics tested reverberation times in The Grotto and assessed the venue’s acoustical problem areas. After the assessment, Performance Acoustics recommended an install of 140 panels of pinta acoustic ceiling tiles, custom-painted to match the interior ceiling. The Grotto acoustical project took less than 48 hours to complete. The result is an event venue that draws high praise from patrons for its ambiance, music and dance floor. “It’s a warm and inviting atmosphere,” raves patron Kathy Laughlin. “The dance floor and sound system are excellent – it’s the perfect location for a dance party!” To learn more about how we can address the acoustics in your event venue, give us a call!

The goal for any successful business is to create lasting relationships and lifelong customers. As we all know, one bad experience can quickly turn into a negative online review. The team at Breakwater Restaurant & Bar in Greenville, South Carolina understands the importance of the customer experience and looked to Fusion Commercial AV and Performance Acoustics when they needed help. Problem: Noisy Bar The restaurant is a local favorite and houses one of the most popular bars in the region. On any given night, the Breakwater’s bar is filled with young and lively professionals. The noise in the bar started to become a problem for patrons in the neighboring dining room. After seeing negative online reviews about the noise in the restaurant, the team at Breakwater Restaurant & Bar knew it was time for something to be done. From bars to office spaces, the last thing people want to do is yell over one another. Fusion took the time to understand the problem. While beautiful, the space was not designed with acoustics in mind. Partnering with Performance Acoustics, Fusion analyzed the bar area, measured the reverberation time in room, and found a 3 second noise delay in the space. A combination of the sleek floors, drop ceiling, and rigid bar were causing the noise delay, making it difficult to socialize. Solution: Acoustical Ceiling Panels & Baffles to Blend Fusion and Performance Acoustics put together a team and a plan to help reduce noise in the bar without compromising the integrity of the space. The plan was to strategically place sounds absorbing panels and baffles in the bar area. After working with the restaurant to help ensure that the installation would not impact the current aesthetics, the team was ready to move forward. The installation only took 4 hours and included 18 panels on the ceiling and 18 baffles behind the bar. Quick, easy, and turnkey – Fusion Commercial AV and Performance Acoustics brought the sound delay time down from 3 seconds to 1 second. Raising the Bar The space where you work is a canvas. The manager of Breakwater Restaurant & Bar could hear the results that night. The bar experience was enhanced immediately. Patrons were able to hear the music in the background and socialize without raising their voices. “We are here to create life-long customers by providing them with innovative technology and exceptional service; sometimes a small change can make a huge difference,” said Andrew Wactor, vice president of Fusion Commercial AV (FCAV). “Simply put, we are committed to solving problems for our clients, and we partner with the right people, like Performance Acoustics, to do it.”

Situation The Indaco Restaurant noise problem was well-known among Charleston’s downtown diners. The exceptional restaurant had received both popular and critical acclaim since the eatery’s opening in 2013, including being named “best new restaurant by Modern Luxury magazine. While the restaurant’s stellar menu and hip vibe were drawing praise, it was also gaining a reputation for being a noisy space – the restaurant was in need of an acoustical overhaul. One Yelp reviewer noted the problem in his review, “The noise level needs to be dealt with; I’m not hard of hearing, but I felt like I was yelling the whole time.” As time progressed, veteran restaurateur Steve Palmer decided to handle the problem head-on. Palmer called architect David Thompson who then contacted Performance Acoustics to handle the acoustical challenge. Solution Performance Acoustics’ team worked with David and Steve directly to tackle the restaurant’s noise problem. Indaco is house in a historic, pre-industrial brick building with wood floors, reflective wood tables and chairs and high ceilings. Undoubtedly the restaurant’s aesthetic is both stunning and sleek, but spaces like these have high reverberation times (or the time it takes for sound to absorb in a room).  “The reverb time at Indaco was 4 seconds, while optimal reverb time for conversations is half that,” said Scott Rhodes of Performance Acoustics.

The Ordinary’s restaurant noise reduced in a flash thanks to acoustics specialists, Performance Acoustics. Charleston’s The Ordinary has achieved acclaim and landed on several “Best of” lists over the years. However, they also racked up noise complaints. From the day the restaurant’s doors opened, The Ordinary started receiving noise complaints. These complaints ultimately tapered off, “people who don’t like loud restaurants stopped coming,” owner Mike Lata noted. As months passed, Lata knew he needed to do something, so he reached out to his architect, David Thompson, who then contacted Performance Acoustics to solve this acoustical issue. Performance Acoustics’ team of problem-solvers consulted with David on The Ordinary as well as two other restaurants. The Ordinary presented a special set of problems for acoustical correction, since the simplest and cheapest solutions would have interfered with the look of the room. “WE WERE TRYING TO PRESERVE THE AESTHETIC OF THE CEILING, BECAUSE THAT CORNICE IS PRETTY BEAUTIFUL AND DRAMATIC AND ORIGINAL,” NOTED LATA.