DECRIPTION
Concentration is a priority, which requires a calm environment with a good level of confidentiality. Absorbing materials are necessary for a short reverberation time as well as a low background noise.

CONSTRAINTS
The calm atmosphere in a library can be disturbed by excessive reverberation propagating any sounds made within the room or by external breaking in from adjacent rooms or from outside the building (concentration).

ARMSTRONG SOLUTION
Building Bulletin 93 requires a maximum reverberation time of 1.0 sec in school libraries and therefore a ceiling tile with appropriate sound absorption is required. Higher levels of absorption will help limit the propagation of noise generated within the room, however, products and materials with high sound insulation performance may be required to block the ingress of noise from adjacent rooms or outside, alternatively active acoustic systems can be used to create masking noise to cover this external noise.