Acoustic Panels for Open-Plan Offices: A Buyer's Guide

Open-plan offices were designed to foster collaboration, but they created an unintended consequence: noise. Studies consistently rank noise as the number one complaint among open-office workers, with up to 58 percent of employees reporting that they need more quiet spaces for focused work. Acoustic panels for open-plan offices address this problem directly by absorbing the excess sound energy that bounces off hard surfaces — glass partitions, concrete ceilings, tile floors, and long expanses of bare drywall.

The Open Office Noise Problem

Open offices amplify noise in ways that enclosed offices do not. Without walls to contain sound, conversations, phone calls, keyboard clatter, and even footsteps travel freely across the entire floor plate. Hard reflective surfaces — a defining feature of modern office architecture — bounce these sounds repeatedly, creating a cumulative ambient noise level that can reach 65 to 70 decibels during peak hours. For context, a normal conversation at 3 feet is about 60 decibels. When the ambient floor is 65 decibels, people raise their voices to be heard, pushing levels even higher.

The productivity cost is real. Research from the University of Sydney found that lack of sound privacy is the biggest factor in workspace dissatisfaction. Workers in open plans report more frequent distraction, more difficulty concentrating, and lower job satisfaction compared to those in private offices. Acoustic panels cannot replicate the isolation of enclosed offices, but they can reduce the reverberation that turns moderate noise into overwhelming noise. OSHA noise standards provide guidance on acceptable workplace noise levels.

Panel Placement for Open Offices

Effective acoustic treatment in open offices follows a distributed approach. Rather than covering one wall heavily, spread panels across multiple surfaces to intercept sound reflections from every direction. The most impactful positions are ceiling clouds above workstation clusters, panels on the two longest walls of the floor plate, and panels on or near glass partitions that separate collaborative zones from focus areas.

Ceiling clouds are especially effective in open offices. Sound rises naturally and bounces between the hard floor and hard ceiling in a pattern called flutter echo. Ceiling-mounted panels interrupt this cycle. Suspending a series of 2-by-4-foot or 4-by-4-foot panels 6 to 12 inches below the ceiling above each workstation cluster creates acoustic zones that reduce the perception of noise from neighboring areas without physically enclosing anyone.

Coverage Guidelines and Calculations

For open-plan offices, plan for 25 to 30 percent coverage of available wall and ceiling area with NRC 0.80 or higher panels. In a 5,000-square-foot open office with 10-foot ceilings, the total available treatment surface (walls plus ceiling) is roughly 7,000 square feet. At 25 percent coverage, you need approximately 1,750 square feet of acoustic panels distributed across walls and ceiling.

This sounds like a large number, but panels are typically concentrated in the highest-impact positions: the ceiling above desk areas, the perimeter walls, and any large flat surfaces facing workstations. Not every square foot of wall needs treatment — strategic placement at first reflection points and on the largest bare surfaces delivers most of the acoustic benefit.

Branded Panels: Acoustic Function Meets Corporate Identity

Open-plan offices present hundreds of square feet of wall and ceiling surface that can serve a dual purpose: acoustic treatment and brand expression. Custom printed acoustic panels from OrangePiel display company logos, brand colors, mission statements, department identifiers, or curated artwork on the same panels that absorb sound. This transforms acoustic treatment from a utilitarian necessity into a design and branding asset.

Many companies use printed panels to create visual identity for different departments or neighborhoods within the open floor plan. The marketing department might feature campaign imagery, while the engineering area displays product schematics or technical diagrams. This approach improves wayfinding, builds culture, and treats acoustics simultaneously — three benefits from a single product.

Combining Panels with Other Acoustic Strategies

Acoustic panels are most effective as part of a comprehensive acoustic strategy. Pair wall and ceiling panels with acoustic desk dividers between workstations, sound-masking systems that raise the background noise floor to mask distracting speech, and designated quiet zones where focused work is the norm. Printed roller shades on perimeter windows add additional sound absorption while controlling glare and solar heat.

The goal is not silence — that is neither achievable nor desirable in an open office. The goal is a balanced acoustic environment where ambient noise stays below 45 to 50 decibels, speech from more than 15 feet away is unintelligible (providing acoustic privacy), and focused work is possible without noise-canceling headphones. Well-placed acoustic panels bring these metrics within reach for most open-plan offices.