Still hearing complaints after installing acoustic panels? Use this diagnostic and observation sheet to check speech, reflections, equipment and work patterns.
The echo is better. So why can you still follow every word of the call across the room?
Your panels may be doing exactly the job they were hired for while some other distraction carries on without them. Nearby speech, equipment, activity next door or a sound path the panels never touched can all be part of the problem. It's also worth checking how many panels you have, where they sit and how they're installed. Before you order more, find out what's still getting in people's way.
“It's still noisy” is a useful signal, but a lousy specification. It doesn't tell you whether sound lingers after someone speaks, a printer interrupts every few minutes, or the quiet work area sits beside the unofficial meeting room also known as the hallway.
Channel your inner Columbo. Ask people what they hear, when it happens and what they're trying to get done, and then ask just one more thing. If you can, sit with them at the workstation while the problem is happening. A peaceful walkthrough before everyone arrives won't tell you much about the afternoon.
Use this table to decide what to check next. Think of it as a lineup of usual suspects; you'll still need to confirm what's happening in your room.
| What people describe | What may be happening | Next check |
|---|---|---|
| Sound seems to hang in the room | Too much reflected sound for the work happening there | Room surfaces, treatment coverage, placement and reverberation measurements |
| A nearby conversation is easy to follow | Speech is reaching the listener clearly despite reduced reflections | Talker/listener positions, separation, open paths and background sound |
| A hum, rattle or repeating machine noise | Equipment or building services may be the source | Facilities inspection, operating cycle and source-specific measurements |
| Distraction spikes at predictable times | Noisy activities nearby clash with focused work | Call patterns, meetings, circulation and zoning |
| People passing the desk repeatedly break concentration | Visual movement is part of the complaint | Which way desks face, what people can see and where others walk past |
More than one row can apply to the same office. Log each complaint separately so a win on echo doesn't hide an unsolved problem with nearby calls.
Grab a copy of the floor plan and mark three things: where the sound starts, where it becomes a problem and what sits between the two. Add ceiling height, major hard surfaces, open doorways and the treatment that's already installed.
Then watch the activity. Are two teams doing different kinds of work side by side? Is a standing conversation floating right over the screens that were meant for seated work? Does a room's door stay propped open because the people inside are uncomfortable, or because they're constantly coming and going?
Wall treatment, for example, may reduce reflections and still leave a straight shot from a person on a call to the next desk. Look at that path and the work happening at each end of it. Another panel on the far wall may do little for that particular complaint.
Bring the original designer or installer back into the conversation. Ask what the treatment was meant to do and what they planned around. You may find that headcount, furniture or work habits have drifted since the plan was drawn.
If sound still hangs around, pull out the original spec and compare it with what's on site. Check which products went in, how many, where they sit and how they're mounted. Did any panels get left out, or moved to make room for other building features?
One gorgeous photo won't tell you whether the room has enough absorption. A treated feature wall can look substantial on Instagram while glass, hard ceilings and other reflective surfaces still make up much of the space. Look at the room's size and shape alongside the treatment's performance.
If the room needs more absorption, or a different kind, look at options like Arbor wall panels and Tempo wall and ceiling treatments. They give you different places and ways to add treatment. Work out where it needs to go and how much the room needs before the finish debate begins.
Loftwall's Penguin Patch project shows how treatment can fit an existing room with an acoustic problem. The headquarters has glass, stone and a two-story entry, the kind of lobby an echo dreams about. The project combined Arbor, Tango Tiles and custom acoustic art. Borrow ideas on placement and design, then work out what your own room needs.
Less reflected sound doesn't make the person talking nearby disappear. If the room feels less echoey but calls are still distracting, note where the listener sits, where the talker sits and whether either one wanders around during the call.
Is there a decent place nearby to take calls? Could the person speaking and the person trying to focus sit farther apart? If the conversation needs to stay private, have the project team check the whole space and whether it needs an enclosure.
Background sound deserves a look, too. Carefully designed sound masking can make speech harder to understand in spaces suited to it. Our overview explains when masking is part of the plan. The system has to be designed and tuned for the room; cranking up a lo-fi beats playlist won't do the same job.
The office also needs a workable agreement about where different activities happen. A rule asking everyone to take calls elsewhere accomplishes little when “elsewhere” is permanently booked.
Leesman's March 2026 analysis connects noise satisfaction with the physical space, people's expectations and preferences, and how they behave in it. It recommends a mix of work settings with clear agreements about how to use them.
Start with the activity you've identified. A recurring team huddle might move away from the focus desks, or a call space might need to be easier to get into. If people keep marching through a quiet area to reach the printer, look at the route and at where the printer lives.
Where you can, change one thing at a time and ask people whether it helped with the same kind of work. The team running the workplace should own this. Employees shouldn't have to negotiate a peace treaty every morning just to concentrate.
Fill out this sheet once while the problem is happening and again during a quieter stretch. Leave out the content of anyone's conversation; the noise is the suspect here, not the gossip.
| Field | What to note |
|---|---|
| Time and activity | When the complaint occurs and the task being interrupted |
| Source and listener | Positions marked on the floor plan |
| Sound description | Speech, lingering sound, hum, rattle or intermittent event |
| Conditions | People present, open or closed doors, equipment and nearby activities |
| Existing treatment | Product, location, amount and known installation details |
| Change tried | One adjustment and the reasoning behind it |
| Result | What the affected users noticed, including what didn't improve |
If you're still unsure what's going on, or privacy and spending decisions depend on the answer, bring in an acoustician. Ask for measurements that answer your question. Checking reverberation, tracking down equipment noise and assessing speech privacy are three different jobs.
GSA recommends checking acoustic strategies in occupied conditions. If you're comparing measurements before and after a change, record how and where you measured, how many people were there and what equipment was running so the comparison means something.
If your checks point toward more absorption, the Loftwall acoustic calculator can help you explore options using the room details you enter. It's a planning estimate, so use it alongside what you've learned in the space. It can't tell you what happened during yesterday's 2 p.m. call.
Bring us the complaint and the floor plan, plus what you've already installed. We can start with what's improved, what's still getting in the way and which change is worth making next.
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