Acoustic Clouds: Reduce Noise and Beautify Your Ceiling
What are Acoustic Clouds?
Acoustic ceiling clouds are designed to reduce reflective sound effectively within a large and open environment.
They also delineate the space and offer a more appealing look.
This is because they are extremely stylish and have soft lined shapes that are suspended horizontally from the ceilings, and give the area an acoustical appearance.
Acoustic cloud ceilings give a modern appearance to an old building and the also reduce the reverberated noise from the building.
They can be used in residential areas as well, if you happen to have noisy neighbors.
In addition to the sound benefits and their aesthetic appearance, the architectural design of acoustic cloud ceilings is flexible and accommodative to most ceilings.
They are however perfect for open spaces that are in need of acoustic support, which allows you to enjoy trendy ductwork and exposed pipes while managing the noise levels.
You can find them in call centers, restaurants, and reception areas, where they hung directly above these places to offer significant noise reduction.
As you can see, the whole reason behind having an acoustic cloud ceiling is to help with noise reduction in open spaces.
How do acoustic ceiling clouds work?
The acoustic clouds are usually hung parallel on the ceiling, and this allows them to absorb the sound waves coming from within the room and outside from two vantage points.
Sound is absorbed as it travels towards the ceilings and then again as it is bouncing back onto the floor.
This dual absorption helps to reduce and dampen echo and noise, making an otherwise noisy area, extremely quiet.
This is why you can be in a noisy restaurant and still manage to converse with your dinner companion.
Sound Panels
The success of these ceiling clouds is greatly dependent on the use of the correct number and type of sound panels.
Floating sound panels are the best, but ensure to find the right size, shape, and texture for your current ceiling.
You can install the acoustic clouds as close to the panels as you want, so they can trigger the intended sound values.
Installation
The ceiling cloud package will come equipped with the right hardware for attaching them at the back of the sound panels.
You shall simply be required to thread a thin wire gauge through the hardware in order to mechanically anchor the ceiling as you wish.
Any distance from the ceiling will work well for you.
Ensure however to stay clear of the sprinkler heads, the lighting, and the HVAC pipes on the ceiling.
The goal here is to have perfect site lines that have the right amount of material for your ceiling.
The acoustic clouds are lightweight and a standard panel measures 3x4 inches and weighs approximately 5 pounds.
You can mount them whichever way you wish, in order to meet your designing needs.
Typically, when they are wall-mounted, they tend to look more elegant, or when they are suspended from the ceiling.
Now, the benefit of using the acoustical ceiling cloud option is that it will make the panels much more efficient when absorbing the sound.
Typically, when you wall-mount them, you shall only be utilizing one side of the acoustic cloud panel.
This is ok, but if you want to utilize both faces of the panels, the best thing would be to suspend them.
Suspension makes use of both faces, the back panel, and the fabric face.
The fabric-facing side will help to flank the edge of the panels and then bounce the sound off of the ceiling and also absorb the sound from the backside of the panel too.
Acoustic cloud panels also help you to absorb the low sound frequencies. In a room that has plenty of low-frequency build-up, the clouds will do a fantastic job of capturing the low frequencies of sound and stop their reflection.
How can you customize them?
Cloud acoustic panels are easy to customize and are offered in a wide range of sizes and thicknesses.
All the options for fabrics will offer you many different colors, whether you want to blend them into your existing ceiling or when you want them to become part of their own design.
They offer you the ability to hide those ceiling appendages that can be quite ugly such as conduit and duct-work.
This will allow you to have a beautiful and acoustically comfortable room.
Acoustic cloud panels can also be hung either horizontally, or vertically.
Both of these options give you the ability to use both sides of the panels, and this offers excellent noise reduction.
A summary of Acoustic cloud benefits
A few tips
​These cloud ceilings are designed for suspension on your current ceiling, which lowers the ambient levels and echoes within the space.
They are ideal for soundproofing where the wall space is limited and in places where clients wish to sit in the open spaces.
By floating the sound planes above the expanse of the ceilings, the panels are able to combine the decorative features, as well as limiting excessive levels of noise.
Pay close attention to the thickness of your panels.
Always go for panels that are at least one inch in thickness when you intend to use them in rooms filled with human voices, and only upgrade to two-inch thickness when the room is designed as a music studio.
Conclusion: On Acoustic Ceiling Clouds
The main reason for using acoustic cloud ceilings is to reduce noise levels in an open-air environment such as a hotel or restaurant.
It allows the customers to engage in conversation without constantly getting interrupted by the wind or other guests.
Always consider using a professional to install the clouds in order to do a good job.
This may seem like a simple DIY job, but when you make mistakes in the initial installation process, you may have problems in the future in case of repairs.
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