Control Room Acoustics

Partnering with BAW Architecture, your control room acoustics will benefit from 30 years of expertise.

Consider the scenario of an abnormal situation taking place in a room without proper acoustics. Alarms sound, loud conversations ensue, radios crackle with information, foot traffic increases. Stress levels elevate, the operator is distracted, anxious and addled. Mistakes are made, precious time is lost, and the situation escalates from abnormal to emergency.

These are precisely the circumstances that good control room acoustics seek to address. When the noise in a control room is mitigated, the potential for distraction is minimized. With its state-of-the-art acoustics knowledge, BAW can help your firm build a control room that is safer and more efficient, a focused environment in which abnormal situations are returned to normal as quickly as possible.

BAW integrates the science of alarm management with ISO 11064 requirements to minimize operator distraction, and keep operator attention where it needs to be. Indeed, BAW was pioneering sound-absorbing acoustic design long before ISO made low decibel levels a standard requirement of control room design.

Historically control rooms were housed in bunkers where hard surfaces allowed sound to reverberate unchecked. With nowhere to dissipate, the sound waves created a chaotic cacophony. BAW helped reimagine acoustics in the control room space beginning 30 years ago. In short, noise is reduced and sound waves are diffused through:

• Balancing acoustics with lighting objectives
• Articulated shape of ceilings and walls
• Materials selection for ceiling, walls and floors

BAW can create models for your project so you know exactly what the performance will be given different abnormal scenarios. Acoustic design is mathematical, and therefore measurable and manageable. Decibel levels and light waves are modeled utilizing special tools and calculations. Creative solutions for controlling noise can then be imagined, such as allowing the sound to filter through an acoustic membrane, to be absorbed in a ceiling cavity above.

As the control room experts, few, if any, architecture firms in the world possess the knowledge of acoustics and lighting that BAW offers. Many are unaware of the implications of acoustics and lighting on safety, or how ISO compliance may be compromised—with potentially long-term financial ramifications—for those designing without experience in acoustics.

The message rings crystal clear: for control room acoustics, with BAW you are safe and sound.

Find out more about the 11 reasons why BAW is the global leader in control room design, or contact us to learn more about our approach to control room acoustics.