Many people are baffled by the term acoustic floating ceiling and it is hardly perplexing due to the fact that all the suspended ceiling manufacturers claim that their ceiling tiles have acoustic features.
Apparently, manufacturers make these claims as they know it will sell more tiles, and technically they are all right in claiming their tiles are acoustic, but the reality is there are two other types of acoustics they are referring to, and they are at complete opposite ends of the spectrum.
The two types of floating ceiling acoustics are sound reflectors and sound absorbers, and both of these are beneficial in various applications.
Sound Absorbers
As the title suggests, these assist to absorb the sound which are quite beneficial at preventing echo in rooms, specifically large halls or corridors.
Acoustic Reflectors
Apparently, these reflect sound and are quite beneficial in specific circumstances. For example, if you have a room with noisy equipment within and you wanted to stop some of the noise penetrating from that room and annoying others, you can install tiles that are good in reflecting sound. This would assist in keeping the noise confined in the room.
Decibel Rating
Tiles that are good absorbers tend to have low decibel rating, therefore most manufacturers don not state the dB rating of these tiles, and stick to providing you their NRC rating. Similarly, the opposite is true for low NRC rated ceiling tiles, the manufacturers will rather show their dB rating.
Some of the best sound absorbing ceiling tiles are made from rock fiber or glass fiber. Sound reflecting ceiling tiles tend to be made from harder materials such as gyproc, calcium silicate, or some types of mineral fiber.
If you need further information regarding acoustic soundproofing services, then we would recommend you to contact a specialized company that has experience with acoustics.