A few pieces of well-placed sports club furniture could be all that's required in order to cut down on echoes and excessive noise in sports halls.
In their latest Acoustic Bulletin, sound quality specialists Ecophon Saint-Gobain look at the different ways of keeping sound levels at a safe and comfortable level in 'shoebox' buildings such as sports halls.
The options were discussed at Euronoise 2012 in Prague, with experiences shared by representatives from Germany, Holland and the UK.
For example, giving the room angled walls, rather than large, flat, perpendicular surfaces, can help to break up echoes - but doesn't work effectively at a tilt of five degrees.
To be suitably effective, the walls must be ten or more degrees away from perpendicular, and it is not enough to simply tilt one wall - if two perpendicular surfaces remain, the beneficial effects are rendered insignificant once again.
Simply placing a few pieces of sports club furniture in the space could be a much better option, as discussed by Don Oeters, who has researched sound quality in sports halls.
He told Euronoise delegates that removing furniture that is already in place can raise noise levels by between 30 and 100%.
Conversely, adding a few items of furniture can cut noise levels by 25-50%, improving safety for people who work in the facility for the long term, and making it easier to communicate without shouting.