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The importance of acoustics in coliving or cohousing

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Good acoustics in coliving or cohousing improves the quality of life of the residents, but where and how do acoustics affect this new type of housing? Coliving or cohousing is a form of shared housing in which tenants have a private area consisting of a separate bedroom, usually with a bathroom and kitchen, and common spaces for shared use such as a kitchen, dining room, coworking spaces, library, gym, multimedia rooms, swimming pool, sports facilities or large living rooms. The acoustic conditioning of these rooms ensures common spaces with good acoustic comfort, promoting coexistence and well-being. One of the most attractive and functional solutions to address the improvement of acoustics in coliving or cohousing is the installation of wood acoustic panels. These panels are designed to effectively absorb and diffuse sound, thereby reducing reverberation and unwanted noise. Wood is an excellent material for this, as it is aesthetically pleasing and blends well into most interior designs. Many coliving or cohousing projects are already incorporating wood acoustic panels from the Spigoacustic, Spigotec or Spigoline families in the design of their common areas. The ecological and sustainable origin of the wood from which they are made, the warmth and elegance they bring to any interior design and the guarantee of being able to offer healthy spaces from the point of view of acoustics are key factors in making this decision. If you have any questions, please contact Spigogroup’s technical department: comercial@spigogroup.com           If you liked this post about acoustics in coliving or cohousing, you may also be interested in:   - Why is wood one of the best materials for decorating and constructing buildings? - Definition of acoustic conditioning and soundproofing, what is the difference? - Request a quotation for acoustic panels and wood panelling - Interior design of hotels: the importance of acoustics in hotel reception areas    

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International Noise Awareness Day

By Acoustics, Architecture, Construction, Decoration, News, Spigogroup wood projects No Comments

Today, the last Wednesday in April, is a very special day for those of us who are devoted to improving acoustics in rooms, spaces and buildings: International Noise Awareness Day. Numerous studies regularly carried out by companies and institutions reveal that the high level of noise produced by traffic and human activity causes serious health complications for millions of people: damage to the cardiovascular system, sleep disorders, anxiety, memory loss, respiratory and endocrine system alterations, and so on. Poor acoustics also causes learning difficulties for children and increases stress in office settings. On this day we want to raise awareness of the importance of protecting ourselves from noise and noise pollution and ensuring healthy spaces where we can enjoy the necessary acoustic comfort that we all desire. Carrying out acoustic conditioning with acoustic panels, such as those manufactured by Spigogroup, controls reverberation, thereby avoiding the need to raise the volume of conversations due to intelligibility issues and helping to maintain optimum sound levels for health. Protection against noise pollution is based on three pillars: good soundproofing, to protect us from external noise, proper acoustic conditioning, to assure acoustic comfort indoors; and regulations limiting noise emissions. Let us remember that managing noise is an investment, not an expense, as it will cut health care bills and increase productivity in classrooms and workplaces.         If you liked this post about improving acoustics, you may also be interested in:   - Acoustic conditioning of classrooms: calculation of reverberation time and recommendations - What are micro-perforated acoustic panels? How many models are there? - Acoustic panels for Lezkairu Health Centre - The benefits of using wood panels in Passivhaus-certified projects    

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Spigogroup launches new wood slat cladding with PET felt insulation

By Acoustics, Architecture, Construction, Decoration, News No Comments

Spigogroup strengthens Spigoline's catalogue offering with the launch of the PET System, a new type of wood slat cladding with PET felt insulation. The new SPIGOLINE PET is an acoustic panel with a modern and timeless design that combines solid natural obeche wood slats arranged in parallel with an eco-friendly insulating panel with high thermal and acoustic performance, made of 80% recycled polyester fibres, 100% recyclable and with a low carbon footprint. Its straight lines with solid obeche wood in combination with the felt back give it a great acoustic performance, notably improving absorption as well as providing thermal insulation. The new SPIGOLINE PET wood slat cladding combines sustainability, aesthetic appeal and easy installation, making it the ideal interior cladding for ceilings and walls. It is very easy, quick and clean to assemble, as the low density obeche wood is very easy to handle and the PET felt can be easily cut with a normal saw, circular saw or jigsaw. In addition, the black felt is flexible, which allows the cladding to adapt easily to walls and curved areas, thus allowing it to participate in projects with more original and avant-garde designs. The PET System comes with 4 different models (6-70-15-30, 10-30-35-30, 12-35-15-15 y 12-35-30-15) and, together with the 36 GRID system models, 12 ACOUSTIC system models and 22 LINEAR system models, they complete the extensive catalogue of Spigoline's wide range of interior cladding solid wood slats.         If you liked this post about wood slat cladding, you may also be interested in:     - How to install solid wood slats on walls - Acoustic conditioning of classrooms: calculation of reverberation time and recommendations - What are micro-perforated acoustic panels? How many models are there? - The 7 advantages of using ayous wood interior cladding in your projects          

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Acoustic conditioning for videoconferencing rooms, is it necessary?

By Acoustics, Architecture, Construction, Decoration, News No Comments

To the question of whether it is necessary to undertake acoustic conditioning work in videoconferencing rooms, the answer is simple: yes. These types of rooms are susceptible to acoustic disturbances typical of offices, meeting rooms and training rooms. Among them, the most common: reverberation. Reverberation is a mismatch in the time that a sound remains in the environment compared to ideal for correctly hearing and understanding a message. Technically, reverberation time is defined as the time it takes for a sound to fall by 60 dB after the source of the sound emission stops. In a room devoted to videoconferencing there are two moments in which a reverberation problem can occur. From the time the sound comes out of the loudspeakers until it reaches the ears of the participants. During time, the sound may be disturbed by interacting with floors, walls, ceilings and other items in the room. Obviously, this is not the case when the audio signal is received via headphones. The other key situation occurs during sound emission, from the time the words are spoken until they reach the microphone. If headset microphones are used, as they are similar to the use of a cell phone, the risk of acoustic problems is greatly reduced, but it is very common to share a microphone with other people in the same room and for it to be one or more feet away from the transmitter. In these cases, reverberation can, once again, produce poor acoustics that prevent the the conversation from being properly understood. The solution lies in carrying put proper acoustic conditioning in the room using sound-absorbent acoustic panels, such as those offered by the Spigotec and Spigoacustic brands. Need more information?   If you liked this post about acoustic conditioning for videoconferencing rooms, you may also be interested in:   - Acoustic conditioning of town halls or council houses - What is the Lombard Effect or Lombard Reflex? - Acoustic panels in hotels, what do they contribute? - Acoustics in schools and speech clarity   Imagen de: Junta de Andalucía, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

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