Why Office Acoustic Panels Fail to Reduce Echo in Shared Meeting Rooms

Shared meeting rooms often sound louder than they should. With glass walls, solid floors, and high ceilings, sound tends to bounce around and build up. Even a quiet conversation can echo and make the space feel noisy. That’s why so many offices turn to office acoustic panels for help.

It makes sense to try acoustic foam for a solution, but it doesn’t always fix the problem. In fact, we’ve noticed that some echo issues hang around no matter how many panels go on the wall. So, what’s going wrong? It usually comes down to the wrong panels, poor placement, or not enough coverage. Let’s look at why these fixes sometimes fall short and what to do instead.

We manufacture acoustic foam panels and soundproofing materials in-house at a 14,000 square foot facility in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire, supplying offices and commercial spaces throughout the UK.

Wrong Type of Panels Chosen

Not every panel is built to reduce echo. Many offices pick up acoustic products without knowing what each type actually does. And that’s where problems start.

Some foam panels are great at mid and high-frequency sounds. These help absorb things like keyboard noise or clinking cups. But the deeper reflections from speech or furniture thuds need different handling. If the foam is too thin or not porous enough, it won’t absorb that low-end energy properly.

This becomes more noticeable in meeting rooms with hard surfaces all around. Sound reflects off walls, ceilings, and floors. Without the right shape and material, panels simply skim over the problem instead of softening those long-lasting echoes. Open-cell foams tend to perform better where speech clarity is the goal, but the right thickness is just as important. If the foam is too shallow, it won’t soak up enough energy to make a real difference.

Panels made from higher density, open cell foam that has been independently tested for sound absorption and certified to UK fire safety standards give more predictable results when you are trying to control echo in meeting rooms.

Poor Placement in the Room

Even if the panels are high quality, they can fail if placed in the wrong spots. It’s a common mistake to mount panels just anywhere they’ll fit. But echo control relies heavily on treating the surfaces where sound reflects the most.

The biggest errors usually include putting panels only on one wall or installing them so high they don’t catch the sound at people’s height. If voices bounce off a table and hit a bare wall opposite, that’s where treatment should go. Neglecting corners or the ceiling is another issue. Sound waves travel in complex paths, and untreated angles often reflect noise straight back into the centre of the room.

A better result comes when we look at the entire space, not just one section. Planning where people sit and how they speak inside the room gives clues about where foam should go.

Not Enough Coverage for the Room Size

Some rooms just don't have enough panels to make a difference. This is especially common in larger meeting spaces where echo has more room to build up. A few small foam squares won’t do much in a room with tall ceilings and hard walls. Without enough surface area covered, echo continues bouncing between untreated sections.

We’ve noticed that ceiling coverage is often ignored, even though sound reflects off the top surfaces just as much. Glass walls or large whiteboards can also reflect noise if left bare, but these are often overlooked in treatment plans.

Meeting rooms need a proper balance between the size of the room and the area treated. More surface area means more opportunity to absorb reflections and improve clarity. When there’s not enough coverage, speech will still feel muffled and tiring to follow.

Only Using Wall Panels Without Mixing Materials

Wall-mounted foam panels are a good starting point, but they’re only part of the solution. Meeting rooms often benefit from a mix of materials, shapes, and mounting positions.

If the entire setup relies only on flat wall panels, reflections from other surfaces go untouched. For example, ceiling baffles can catch vertical reflections, while corner traps help soften sound bouncing into edges. Getting a mix of panel types spreads the treatment across different frequency ranges, helping speech sound sharper and natural.

We supply office acoustic wall panels, ceiling tiles, and suspended panels, so projects can combine treatments that suit both the layout and the available wall or ceiling space.

Some foams have bevelled or uneven shapes that perform better than flat sheets. Others are made to absorb more bass without needing thick coverage. By using a variety of formats, rooms absorb echoes from more directions and frequencies, which makes conversations easier to follow.

Getting More from Your Panels

Fixing these issues doesn’t always mean starting from scratch. We’ve seen strong results just from adjusting how panels are installed. A few tweaks in spacing or layout often solve what looks like a full-room problem.

A good review of the room’s use goes a long way. If most people face forward during meetings, or if screens reflect sound behind them, then those surfaces matter most. Thinking about where people sit and how often they move helps guide panel placement. Mounting them at the right height and on surfaces directly facing speech paths makes a difference.

Spacing out panels evenly and avoiding only one wall helps reduce echo more completely. Using mounting brackets rather than gluing panels flat against walls gives sound a bit more room to absorb into the foam.

Here are key things we focus on

• Reassess where people sit, speak, and listen most

• Identify spaces where noise builds up (corners, near windows, and long flat walls)

• Adjust panel height and spacing for realistic sound paths, not just visuals

Every room speaks differently. Listening to it makes all the difference.

Why Fixing Office Echo Makes the Whole Space Work Better

When echo is under control, people don’t need to raise their voices to be heard. Speech becomes clearer, and meetings feel less tiring. Even video calls sound better when there’s less bounce.

Changing how echo behaves in one room can actually improve how the whole office feels. Shared spaces become more comfortable to use, and working together doesn’t come with background noise and distraction. The right setup doesn’t just absorb sound, it makes communication cleaner and the space easier to enjoy.

If echo and clarity are still an issue in your meeting room, it might be time to look at how your sound setup is actually working. The most effective results often come from combining panel types while ensuring enough coverage to match the size and layout of the space. At Advanced Acoustics, we can help you get better results by planning smarter placements and blending materials suited to your room’s surfaces. Explore our range of office acoustic solutions to bring balance and quiet to your shared spaces.