Acoustic Panel Coverage Calculator (Sabins, RT60 Target & Panel Count)

How it works

Sabine: RT60 = 0.161 × V ÷ A (V in m³, A in m² sabins) · A_current = 0.161 V ÷ RT_current; A_target = 0.161 V ÷ RT_target · panels = (A_target − A_current) ÷ (panel area × NRC) · Schroeder frequency ≈ 2000 √(RT60 ÷ V)

Reverberation is the sound energy that keeps bouncing after the source stops, and Sabine's century-old equation ties its decay time to the room's volume divided by its total absorption, so treating a room is a budgeting exercise: work out how much absorption it has, how much the intended use calls for, and buy the difference in panels rated by area and absorption coefficient. Each use has a range — voices want a dry room in which words do not smear, music wants some bloom, worship spaces even more — and overshooting produces a dead, oppressive space, so the target is a range rather than "as much as possible". Panels of practical thickness only work above the low midrange, which is why bass problems are handled separately with thick corner traps.

Worked example

A 6 × 4.5 × 2.7 m room (73 m³) with a hard floor and some furniture rings for about 1.0 s; a mixing room wants 0.3 s. That means raising absorption from about 11.7 to 39 m² sabins — 27.4 more — which is about 37 two-inch 2×4 ft panels (NRC 1.0), covering about 48% of the wall area, around $2,220 bought or $900 built. The Schroeder frequency is about 128 Hz, so add corner bass traps for the modes below it.

Frequently asked questions