Acoustic Panels: What They Are and How to Choose Them
6 min reading time
Acoustic panels absorb and diffuse sound, cutting echo and reverberation while working as wall or ceiling finish. Slats on PET felt typically deliver NRC 0.55-0.85; cover 20-30% of the room's hard surfaces for an audible result. Types, applications, selection and the myths.
In short: acoustic panels are wall and ceiling finishes that absorb and diffuse sound — they remove echo, boominess and that hard “ringing” quality — while doubling as a decorative surface. The most common format today is timber slats on acoustic PET felt, which typically lands somewhere around NRC 0.55–0.85 depending on slat spacing and cavity depth. They are not soundproofing: they fix the sound inside the room, not between rooms. Here is how they work, where they belong and how to specify them.
What acoustic panels actually are
Panels for walls and ceilings that improve room acoustics and simultaneously serve as finish. They reduce echo, reverberation and harshness — the sound becomes softer and more comfortable to sit in.
How they work
Panels either absorb sound (a soft layer damps the reflections) or diffuse it (a relief surface breaks up the wavefront). Decorative slat panels combine both.
Absorbers — felt or mineral wool damp the echo
Diffusers — relief and slats scatter the reflection
Decorative slats on felt — acoustics and a good-looking wall in one product
The number to look for on a datasheet is the absorption coefficient — NRC in the North American convention, αw under the European one. Both run from 0 (a mirror for sound) to 1.0 (a total absorber). A bare plastered wall sits near 0.05; a good slat-on-felt panel with a 25–50 mm cavity behind it typically reaches 0.55–0.85.
The main types
Slats (veneer or solid timber) on a felt backing
PET felt panels, including printed and 3D-formed versions
Wall-mounted and ceiling-mounted formats
Fixed direct to the substrate, or on battens with an air gap
PET felt is usually made from recycled bottles, which is why it copes well with the tropics: it does not absorb water, does not feed mould and does not sag in 80–90% humidity the way mineral wool or fabric-wrapped panels can. In Phuket and similar climates this matters more than the acoustic rating — check the carrier board too, because standard MDF swells near an open terrace or a poorly sealed bathroom wall. Moisture-resistant board or an aluminium carrier is the safer specification.
Where they are used
Panels suit both homes and commercial spaces — anywhere the sound and the look of the wall both matter.
Living room and media wall
Slats on acoustic felt turn a TV wall into a feature and take the boom out of a large open room — exactly the kind of space where glass sliders and stone floors otherwise create a hard, echoing box.
An accent media wall with real material depth
Softer, less fatiguing sound in the living area
They photograph and read beautifully with grazing light
Home office, bedroom, meeting room
Where quiet and concentration matter: panels cut the echo on video calls and make the room calmer.
Cleaner audio on calls — the single biggest win in a home office
A quieter, softer-sounding bedroom
A slatted headboard as the feature wall
Restaurants, hotels and public spaces
In restaurants, showrooms and open-plan offices panels lower the noise floor and set the tone at the same time. In hospitality this is not a comfort detail but a commercial one — a dining room where guests have to raise their voices empties earlier, and the complaint lands in the reviews rather than in the acoustic report.
Less noise across a restaurant floor
Style and acoustics together in a showroom
Open plan without the boom
The more hard surfaces a room has — glass, concrete, tile, polished stone — the more dramatic the improvement. Tropical architecture with full-height glazing, terrazzo floors and no soft furnishings is close to the worst case, and also where panels pay off most.
How to choose without regretting it
What to look at
The specification depends on the job: decoration, acoustics, or both.
Slat material — veneer, solid timber or paint-grade
Backing — acoustic PET felt, colour matched to the scheme
Slat size and spacing — scaled to the wall, not to the sample
Cavity depth — an air gap of 25–50 mm behind the panel noticeably improves low-frequency absorption
Coverage — aim for roughly 20–30% of the room's hard surface area
Lighting — slats look their best with grazing linear light
Because slats and light are inseparable in practice, plan the two together: a linear fitting washing down a slatted wall reveals the relief, while a badly placed downlight flattens it. See hidden and architectural lighting for the detailing, and restaurant lighting design if the project is hospitality.
Common misconceptions
“This is soundproofing” — no. Panels improve acoustics inside the room; they do not isolate you from the neighbours. Isolation needs mass, decoupling and sealed junctions — a completely different build-up.
The effect scales with the room — the harder and emptier the space, the more obvious the improvement
Cheap panels with no felt are just decoration — slats glued to a solid board absorb almost nothing
A small patch does nothing — two square metres on a large wall is a design gesture, not an acoustic one
Plan the fixing with the electrics — integrated lighting must be routed before the panels go up
If you are also weighing panels against other wall finishes, our comparison of wall panels vs tiles covers the wet-area side of the decision.
FAQ
What are acoustic panels? Wall and ceiling finishes that absorb and diffuse sound, removing echo and boominess while working as decoration. Most commonly timber slats on acoustic PET felt.
Do they really remove echo? Yes — they cut reflections and reverberation inside the room. A good slat panel reaches NRC 0.55–0.85, versus roughly 0.05 for a bare plastered wall. The effect is most obvious in rooms full of glass, concrete and tile.
Is this the same as soundproofing? No. Acoustic panels improve the sound inside the room; they do not isolate it from adjacent spaces. Isolation requires mass, decoupled layers and sealed junctions.
What are they made of? Usually timber slats (veneer or solid) on acoustic PET felt, often recycled. Solid felt panels, including printed and 3D versions, are also common.
How much wall should I cover? As a rule of thumb, 20–30% of the room's hard surface area. Below that the change is measurable but not really audible.
Are they difficult to install? No — they fix to a wall, a ceiling or a batten frame. The important part is coordinating the fixing with the electrical first fix if you want integrated lighting, and leaving a 25–50 mm cavity for better low-frequency absorption.
Will they survive a tropical climate? PET felt does, easily — it does not absorb water or support mould. The weak point is the carrier board: specify moisture-resistant substrate or aluminium near terraces, pools and bathrooms rather than standard MDF.
Planning panels and light together?
RODESIGNE designs & manufactures custom lighting for villas, hotels and restaurants — Phuket & worldwide. We detail slatted and facade systems together with the linear lighting that makes them work.
