Room absorption advisor with product recommendations and placement guidance
Critical listening and recording
Enter measured RT60 per band, or use values from the RT60 tool.
125 Hz
17.4
m² Sabins
250 Hz
23.2
m² Sabins
500 Hz
19.9
m² Sabins
1k Hz
18.7
m² Sabins
2k Hz
17.4
m² Sabins
4k Hz
15.8
m² Sabins
AcousPlan provides comprehensive room acoustic design with ray-tracing simulation, 3D visualization, and detailed treatment specifications.
Explore AcousPlan →Acoustic treatment is the process of adding absorptive, reflective, or diffusive materials to a room to control reverberation and improve sound quality. Unlike soundproofing (which blocks sound transmission between spaces), acoustic treatment addresses the behavior of sound within a room. The goal is to achieve a reverberation time (RT60) appropriate for the room's intended use, while maintaining a natural and balanced frequency response.
The foundation of room acoustics calculation is the Sabine equation: RT60 = 0.161V / A, where V is the room volume in cubic meters and A is the total absorption in metric Sabins (m²). One Sabin represents one square meter of perfectly absorptive surface. To reduce RT60 from a measured value to a target, you must add absorption equal to the difference: ΔA = 0.161V·(1/RT60_target - 1/RT60_current). SonaVyx calculates this per octave band (125 Hz to 4 kHz) to provide frequency-specific treatment recommendations.
Broadband absorbers (fiberglass or mineral wool panels, typically 50–100mm thick) provide mid- and high-frequency absorption. Bass traps address problematic low frequencies below 300 Hz, where room modes cause uneven bass response. Corner-mounted triangular traps or membrane absorbers are effective for low-frequency control. Acoustic clouds (suspended ceiling panels with air gaps) combine broad absorption with visual design flexibility. Diffusers scatter sound energy to reduce flutter echoes and improve spatial impression without removing energy from the room.
The Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC) is the average of absorption coefficients at 250, 500, 1000, and 2000 Hz, rounded to the nearest 0.05. While NRC provides a single-number comparison, frequency-specific absorption coefficients are essential for accurate treatment design. A material with NRC 0.85 might be excellent at mid-frequencies but poor below 250 Hz. SonaVyx uses per-band coefficients to ensure treatment recommendations address the specific frequency ranges where absorption is needed.
Where you place treatment is as important as what you place. First reflection points on side walls and ceiling should be treated first, as these early reflections most strongly affect clarity and imaging. Use the mirror trick: sit at the listening position and have someone slide a mirror along the wall. Wherever you can see a speaker in the mirror is a first reflection point. Corners are the most effective location for bass traps because modal pressure is maximum there. Rear wall treatment (absorption or diffusion) controls late reflections and comb filtering from the back of the room.
SonaVyx offers two optimization modes. Performance mode prioritizes products with the highest NRC and broadest absorption bandwidth, ideal when acoustic quality is paramount (recording studios, mix rooms, critical listening spaces). Budget mode ranks products by cost-per-Sabin, finding the most economically efficient way to achieve the target RT60. In practice, a combination approach often works best: invest in quality bass traps for the corners and use cost-effective ceiling tiles or curtains for broadband absorption.
A general rule for recording studios and mix rooms is to cover 25–40% of wall surface area with absorption and place bass traps in all vertical corners. For offices and classrooms, ceiling absorption covering 60–80% of the ceiling area is the most effective single intervention. SonaVyx calculates exact quantities based on your room's measured RT60 and target.
Yes. Rigid fiberglass (like Owens Corning 703) or mineral wool (Rockwool Safe'n'Sound) wrapped in acoustically transparent fabric provides equivalent performance to commercial panels at 30–50% of the cost. Use the same absorption coefficients as the commercial equivalents. Ensure minimum 50mm thickness for broadband absorption, or 100mm for extended low-frequency performance.
Absorption converts sound energy into heat, reducing the overall energy in the room and lowering RT60. Diffusion scatters sound energy in multiple directions without removing it, reducing flutter echoes and improving spatial impression while maintaining liveliness. Most rooms benefit from a combination: absorption at first reflection points and diffusion on the rear wall.
Low frequencies have long wavelengths (2.7 m at 125 Hz), requiring absorbers that are a significant fraction of the wavelength to be effective. A 50mm panel absorbs poorly below 250 Hz. Effective bass treatment requires either thick absorbers (100mm+ with air gaps), corner-mounted traps (which benefit from pressure maxima at boundaries), or resonant/membrane absorbers tuned to specific frequencies.
The Sabine equation assumes a diffuse sound field, meaning sound energy is uniformly distributed and arrives from all directions equally. This is a reasonable approximation for rooms with modest absorption (RT60 > 0.5s) and regular dimensions. For heavily treated rooms (studios with RT60 < 0.3s), the Eyring equation is more accurate. For very large or irregularly shaped spaces, ray-tracing simulation (as provided by AcousPlan) is recommended.
Yes. If you have measured RT60 using the SonaVyx RT60 tool, you can manually enter the per-band values into the Current RT60 fields. Future versions will support automatic import from previous measurement sessions for a seamless workflow.