Acoustic standards & regulations

Before you rely on this page

This is a plain-English summary to help you find the right document. It is not a substitute for the standard itself. Standards and building regulations are revised, and the edition that applies depends on where and when your project is designed. Always check requirements against the current official text, and involve an acoustic consultant or fire engineer where the project needs one. Each section links to its source.

Room acoustics by building type

BB93: schools in England

Building Bulletin 93: Acoustic design of schools – performance standards is published by the Department for Education. It is the normal way to show compliance with the acoustic requirement for schools in the Building Regulations in England. It covers indoor ambient noise, sound insulation and reverberation.

Its Table 6 sets maximum mid-frequency reverberation times (the average of 500 Hz, 1 kHz and 2 kHz) for rooms that are finished and furnished but unoccupied. Examples for new buildings:

• Primary school classrooms: 0.6 s or less (0.8 s or less in refurbishments)
• Secondary school classrooms: 0.8 s or less (1.0 s or less in refurbishments)
• Teaching spaces for pupils with special hearing or communication needs: 0.4 s or less, averaged from 125 Hz to 4 kHz
• Dining rooms: 1.0 s or less (1.5 s or less in refurbishments)

Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland have their own school design guidance, so check which document applies.

Source: BB93, February 2015 (gov.uk)

HTM 08-01: healthcare buildings in England

Health Technical Memorandum 08-01: Acoustics sets out recommended acoustic criteria for new healthcare buildings. Rather than a reverberation time for most rooms, it asks for sound-absorbing treatment in all areas, including corridors, where cleaning, infection control, patient safety, clinical and maintenance requirements allow (paragraph 2.106).

Its rule of thumb (paragraph 2.110) is absorption equivalent to a Class C absorber covering at least 80% of the floor area, on top of what normal building materials provide. Less area is needed with a Class A or B absorber. It also notes that washable absorbent materials will be needed in some areas, and that fire safety must be considered. Scotland publishes its own version, SHTM 08-01.

Source: HTM 08-01 (NHS England)

DIN 18041: rooms in Germany

DIN 18041 (Hörsamkeit in Räumen, 2016 edition) covers the audibility of speech and music in rooms up to about 5,000 m³, and in sports and swimming halls up to about 30,000 m³. It splits rooms into two groups:

• Group A: rooms where speech must be understood over medium and longer distances, such as classrooms, seminar rooms, lecture halls and sports halls. Targets are set as a reverberation time that depends on the room’s use and volume.
• Group B: rooms where listening distances are short, such as offices, canteens, dining rooms, entrance halls and circulation areas where people spend time. Recommendations are given as an amount of absorption relative to the room volume.

The numeric targets are in the standard itself, which is published by DIN Media.

Sources: DIN 18041 (DIN Media) · Summary (Forum Verlag, in German)

EN ISO 3382-3: open-plan offices

ISO 3382-3 (2022 edition) is a method for measuring the acoustics of unoccupied open-plan offices. Instead of reverberation time alone, it describes how quickly speech fades with distance from the talker. Its main single-number values include:

• D2,S: how much the level of speech drops each time the distance from the talker doubles
• Lp,A,S,4m: the level of speech 4 metres from the talker
• rD (distraction distance): the distance at which speech stops being easily understood

Good results usually need a combination of ceiling absorption, screens, furniture layout and sometimes sound masking. Acoustic lighting can provide part of the ceiling absorption.

Source: ISO 3382-3:2022 (iso.org)

WELL Building Standard: sound

The WELL Building Standard (version 2) is a voluntary certification scheme for healthy buildings. Its Sound concept includes features on reverberation time, which set maximum values by room type and volume, and on sound-reducing surfaces, which call for absorptive ceilings and walls in certain spaces. Points depend on the project, so check the current WELL v2 text for the feature numbers and thresholds that apply.

Source: WELL v2 (International WELL Building Institute)

How acoustic products are tested and rated

EN ISO 354: measuring absorption

EN ISO 354 is the laboratory method for measuring sound absorption in a reverberation room. It covers flat materials such as wall and ceiling panels, and also objects such as furniture, space absorbers and, by extension, acoustic luminaires. Flat materials are reported as an absorption coefficient for each frequency band; single objects are reported as an equivalent absorption area in m² per object.

Source: ISO 354:2003 (iso.org)

EN ISO 11654: rating absorption

EN ISO 11654 turns the frequency-by-frequency results of a flat material into a single weighted absorption coefficient, αw, from 0 to 1, and an absorption class from A (most absorbent) to E. It is designed for materials measured per square metre, so it doesn’t apply directly to single objects. Our glossary lists the αw range for each class.

Source: ISO 11654:1997 (iso.org)

Fire safety

EN 13501-1: reaction to fire

Across Europe, building products are classified for reaction to fire under EN 13501-1. The main classes run from A1 and A2 (non-combustible or limited combustibility) through B, C, D and E to F (not classified). Additional ratings describe smoke production (s1 to s3, s1 is least) and flaming droplets (d0 to d2, d0 is none). A full classification looks like B-s1,d0.

A classification applies to the product as it was tested, including its mounting. Some felt products are classified only with a specified air gap behind them, and some suppliers’ ratings cover the felt alone rather than the complete luminaire. Where the manufacturer publishes a classification, the Lumisono product page states it as published, including any mounting conditions, and we can supply the classification report on request. If a product page shows no fire class, ask us before you specify it.

Approved Document B: England

Approved Document B (Fire safety), Volume 2 covers buildings other than dwellings in England. Its Table 6.1 sets minimum classifications for the surface linings of walls and ceilings:

• Small rooms (up to 30 m² in non-residential buildings): D-s3,d2
• Other rooms: C-s3,d2
• Other circulation spaces: B-s3,d2

The guidance on linings does not cover furniture and fittings, and it has separate provisions for light diffusers and thermoplastic materials. How a suspended acoustic luminaire or baffle is treated is a question for your fire engineer or building control body. Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland have their own fire safety guidance.

Source: Approved Document B (gov.uk)

Technical Guidance Document B: Republic of Ireland

In Ireland, Technical Guidance Document B (Fire Safety) gives the guidance for Part B of the Building Regulations. Volume 1 (2024 edition, reprinted 2026) covers buildings other than dwelling houses, and its Section 2 deals with internal fire spread from linings. The Irish classes are not the same as England’s: for example, larger rooms in assembly buildings such as restaurants and schools need a higher class, so don’t assume the English figures apply. As in England, check the current edition and confirm with your fire consultant or building control authority how suspended products are assessed.

Source: Technical Guidance Document B 2024, Volume 1 (gov.ie)

How we can help

We can’t certify that a building complies. That’s the role of your acoustic consultant, fire engineer and building control body. We can supply the acoustic test reports, fire classification reports and photometric files they need, and calculate how much absorption a proposed layout adds. To estimate quantities yourself, see how many acoustic lights do I need?, or send us your drawings.