What reverberation time should an office have?

The target table used by this calculator sets 0.8 s for an office, meeting room, classroom, nursery and living room, 0.7 s for a call centre, restaurant or café or bar, and 1.0 s for a reception or waiting room. The calculator shows whether your estimated RT60 meets the target for the room type you select.

Which finishes absorb the least sound?

In the table, marble has an absorption coefficient of 0.01 in every octave band, concrete 0.01 to 0.03 and plaster 0.01 to 0.05. Soft finishes absorb far more: carpet reaches 0.37 at 4000 Hz and heavy curtains 0.96 at 500 Hz. A room with hard finishes on the floor, ceiling and walls therefore has a long reverberation time.

How many m² of acoustic panels do I need?

The calculator works out the extra absorption in m² sabine that brings the headline RT60 — the mean of the 500, 1000 and 2000 Hz bands — down to the target, then divides it by the weighted absorption coefficient αw of each Re-Sound panel with a published single value: 1 m² of a panel with αw 1.0 adds 1 m² sabine. Panels whose αw depends on the pattern or thickness are listed without a quantity and link to their product page.

Reverberation Time Calculator (RT60)

How it works

Sabine's formula and the targets

The calculator uses Sabine's formula in the form T = V / (6 × A): T is the reverberation time in seconds, V the room volume in m³ and A the total absorption in m² sabine — every surface area multiplied by its absorption coefficient α, added up. Each octave band from 125 Hz to 4000 Hz is calculated separately with the α values of the selected floor, ceiling and wall finishes.

The headline RT60 is the mean of the 500, 1000 and 2000 Hz bands — the speech frequencies — and that is the value compared with the target.

The target reverberation times per room type come from the same source table as the absorption coefficients: from 0.4 s for a music studio to 1.5 s for a sports hall or swimming pool; an office, meeting room or classroom aims for 0.8 s.

Sabine's formula assumes the absorption is spread evenly over the room. The result is an estimate for early design decisions, not a measurement.

Target reverberation time per room type
Room type	Target T
Office	0,8 s
Call centre	0,7 s
Meeting room	0,8 s
Reception	1 s
Waiting room	1 s
Sports hall	1,5 s
Swimming pool	1,5 s
Classroom	0,8 s
Nursery	0,8 s
Restaurant	0,7 s
Café or bar	0,7 s
Music café	1 s
Music studio	0,4 s
Rehearsal room	0,9 s
Warehouse	1 s
Workshop	1 s
Living room	0,8 s
Home cinema	0,5 s

Your room

Lengthin m (2.8 or 2,8)

Widthin m (2.8 or 2,8)

Heightin m (2.8 or 2,8)

Floor finish

Ceiling finish

Wall finish

Room type

Result

Room volume: 56 m³
Estimated RT60 now: 3,79 s; Mean of the 500, 1000 and 2000 Hz bands
Target for Office: 0,8 s; Above target
Absorption to add: 9,2 m² sabine; Extra absorption needed to bring the RT60 down to the target

Per octave band
Band (Hz)	125	250	500	1.000	2.000	4.000
Absorption A (m² sabine)	8,5	3,3	2,2	2,3	3	4,3
RT60 (s)	1,1	2,82	4,23	4,04	3,09	2,16

Re-Sound panels to reach the target

m² of each panel that supply the missing absorption, based on its weighted absorption coefficient αw. Choose one product; the quantities are alternatives, not a sum.

≈ 9,2 m² of Interior (αw 1.0)Product page
≈ 9,2 m² of Solid (αw 1.0)Product page
≈ 9,2 m² of Divide (αw 1.0)Product page
≈ 10,2 m² of rWood Groove (αw 0.90)Product page
≈ 10,2 m² of rWood Micro (αw 0.90)Product page
rWood Perf — measured per pattern / thickness — see product pageProduct page
rWood Panel — measured per pattern / thickness — see product pageProduct page
rPET Panel — measured per pattern / thickness — see product pageProduct page
rPET Groove — measured per pattern / thickness — see product pageProduct page
rPET Flex Groove — measured per pattern / thickness — see product pageProduct page

Sabine's formula assumes evenly distributed absorption: the estimate holds best when the panels are spread over the room rather than concentrated on one surface.

FAQ

Questions about the calculation

What reverberation time should an office have?
The target table used by this calculator sets 0.8 s for an office, meeting room, classroom, nursery and living room, 0.7 s for a call centre, restaurant or café or bar, and 1.0 s for a reception or waiting room. The calculator shows whether your estimated RT60 meets the target for the room type you select.
Which finishes absorb the least sound?
In the table, marble has an absorption coefficient of 0.01 in every octave band, concrete 0.01 to 0.03 and plaster 0.01 to 0.05. Soft finishes absorb far more: carpet reaches 0.37 at 4000 Hz and heavy curtains 0.96 at 500 Hz. A room with hard finishes on the floor, ceiling and walls therefore has a long reverberation time.
How many m² of acoustic panels do I need?
The calculator works out the extra absorption in m² sabine that brings the headline RT60 — the mean of the 500, 1000 and 2000 Hz bands — down to the target, then divides it by the weighted absorption coefficient αw of each Re-Sound panel with a published single value: 1 m² of a panel with αw 1.0 adds 1 m² sabine. Panels whose αw depends on the pattern or thickness are listed without a quantity and link to their product page.

Next step

Send me this calculation and a quote

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