Project Challenge

This 120-seat independent arthouse cinema screening room in Dublin, Ireland hosts independent films, director Q&As and small live score events. Housed in a converted historic warehouse with high bare ceilings and brick walls, the space creates strong mid-low frequency standing waves and uneven sound distribution. Film dialogue sounds muddy, low-end effects are boomy and uneven across seating, and Q&A sessions suffer from poor speech intelligibility. The cinema needed acoustic tuning suitable for both film playback and spoken word events, while respecting the building’s historic industrial character and avoiding visible modern treatment.

Our Solution

On side and rear walls we installed a grooved and perforated resonant acoustic panel system, paired with mineral wool infill and rear air cavities. We ran acoustic simulation on the room’s volume and geometry, then precisely tuned the slot and perforation ratios to target the 250–1000Hz mid-low frequency standing waves causing most of the clarity issues. The whole system hits NRC 0.90, delivering balanced full-band sound absorption suitable for both film and spoken word. On the ceiling perimeter we used high-density fiberglass acoustic tiles, NRC 0.90–0.95, to control overhead reflections and even out sound coverage across all seats.

All panels meet EN 13501 Class A fire safety for UK public assembly venues. We used a dark matte finish that blends into the cinema’s dark interior, with no visible industrial look.

Project Results

Speech intelligibility improved by an estimated 47% across all seating areas, with dialogue now clear even from the back row. Film audio now has tighter bass response and more even coverage. Audience satisfaction scores for presentation quality are up 32%, and the cinema now regularly hosts live score and spoken word events it could not before.