Why acoustic lighting?

The noise problem

Modern interiors are full of hard surfaces: glass, concrete, tiles, timber floors, exposed ceilings. They look good, but they reflect sound. Every voice, chair scrape and clattering plate bounces around the room for longer than it should. That lingering sound is reverberation.

In a reverberant room, people raise their voices to be heard over the background noise, which makes the room louder still. Acousticians call this the Lombard effect. In a restaurant it means guests who can’t hear each other and leave sooner. In an office it means distraction and poor calls. In a classroom it means pupils who miss words.

What acoustic lighting does

Acoustic lighting combines a luminaire with sound-absorbing material, usually felt made from polyester (PET) fibres. The felt soaks up part of the sound energy that hits it instead of reflecting it, which shortens reverberation and makes speech clearer.

Because the luminaire hangs in the room, often close to where people sit and talk, the absorption sits right where the sound is made. And because you need lights anyway, you gain absorption without giving up wall space or adding a separate ceiling system.

What it can do

• Reduce reverberation and echo so speech is clearer and the room feels calmer.
• Add absorption where walls and ceilings can’t take panels, for example glazed walls, listed ceilings or exposed concrete you want to keep.
• Do two jobs with one product, so you buy, install and maintain one item instead of two.
• Become a design feature, with felt colours chosen to suit the interior.

What it can’t do

We think it’s important to be clear about the limits.

• It can’t stop sound passing between rooms. That is sound insulation, which depends on the walls, floors, doors and ceilings of the building, not on what hangs inside the room.
• It can’t fix a very loud room on its own without enough of it. What matters is the total absorption added compared with the size and hardness of the room. A few pendants in a large, hard room will help, but may not be enough by themselves. Our guide to how many acoustic lights you need shows how to work it out.
• It doesn’t replace a proper acoustic assessment for spaces with strict requirements, such as schools, healthcare or studios. We’ll work alongside your acoustic consultant, or help you find one. See standards & regulations for the main documents.

Lights, panels or both?

Acoustic lights work best where you need light over the same area you want to treat: over dining tables, desks, meeting tables and counters. Wall and ceiling panels add more absorption area for less cost per square metre. In many rooms the best answer is a combination of both, and we can help you work out the balance.

Why we don’t quote “% noise reduction”

You’ll see acoustic products advertised with a percentage noise reduction. Those figures depend entirely on the room they were measured in, and they rarely say what was measured. We publish absorption figures for each product instead, and say whether they were measured on the product or calculated, so you or your acoustician can work out the effect in your own room.

Lighting people first

We’re a lighting company. Every Lumisono product comes with full photometric data (IES and LDT files), test certificates for acoustic and fire performance, and a full warranty, so the light is as good as the acoustics. Send us your drawings and we’ll help you specify both.