Open-plan offices were meant to bring teams closer together. In practice, the most common complaint from employees in open offices is noise — ringing phones, overheard calls, and the low roar of dozens of conversations at once. The good news is that this is a solvable, physical problem: hard floors, glass partitions and exposed concrete ceilings reflect sound instead of absorbing it, and acoustic wall panels are one of the fastest ways to fix it without a full office redesign.
Absorb, block, cover: the three tools of office acoustics
Acoustic treatment works in three distinct ways, and most noisy offices need a mix of all three.
- Absorb — soft, porous materials (acoustic wall panels, ceiling baffles, carpet) soak up sound energy so it doesn't bounce around the room.
- Block — solid partitions, doors and glazing stop sound from travelling between rooms.
- Cover — background sound masking makes speech from neighbouring desks less intelligible and therefore less distracting.
Wall panels and ceiling systems sit squarely in the "absorb" category, and are usually the highest-impact, lowest-disruption fix for an existing office because they install onto walls that are already there.
Which wall panel suits which space?
- Phonic Fibre panels — fabric-wrapped glass fibre with a very high NRC, ideal for meeting rooms and phone booths where speech clarity matters most.
- PET panels — CNC-carved recycled polyester, a strong option for feature walls and reception areas where design impact matters alongside absorption.
- Wood Works panels — grooved wooden panels that add warmth to boardrooms and executive cabins while still absorbing sound.
Where to put acoustic treatment for the biggest impact
Panel placement matters as much as panel choice. A few high-leverage locations:
- First reflection points — the wall or ceiling surface a sound bounces off on its way to a listener's ear; treating these has an outsized effect for relatively little panel area.
- Around phone booths and huddle rooms — small enclosed spaces reflect sound aggressively, so these benefit from panels on two or more walls.
- Ceiling baffles over open collaboration zones and breakout areas, where a suspended ceiling isn't practical or desired.
- Behind reception and above meeting tables — visible, high-traffic areas where a feature panel does double duty as decor.
A practical checklist for a noisy office
- Start with the loudest room in the office — usually the largest open floor or the main meeting room — rather than spreading treatment thin everywhere at once.
- Treat ceiling and walls together; ceiling-only treatment in a large open room rarely solves the problem alone.
- Add dedicated phone booths or pods for calls instead of relying on open-desk noise discipline.
- Choose a fabric or perforated finish over a solid laminate wherever absorption matters more than a hard, wipeable surface.
If you can share a floor plan, Bollard's team can mark up first-reflection points and recommend a panel mix and coverage area — most offices see a noticeable difference from treating less than a third of their wall and ceiling area.