Independent tests prove that Echo Barrier acoustic panels do not absorb water when exposed to heavy rain or when jet-washed. They are designated as waterproof (BSEN 60529:1992 IPX6 / IPX9 standards).
Conventional acoustic blankets and barriers, as produced by other manufacturers, contain materials like fibreglass and Rockwool. These can easily become waterlogged, which makes them heavy and cumbersome to handle. Waterlogging can also halve their capacity for absorbing sound.
Echo Barrier products are fully waterproof to industry standards, IPx 6/9. They are effective in heavy rain and can be jet-washed.
Traditional acoustic blankets and noise barriers are often made of water-absorbent materials (such as fibreglass and Rockwool). When these materials get waterlogged, they weigh the barriers down and cut their noise reduction in half.
Extensive testing has proved that Echo Barrier’s acoustic panels provide unrivalled noise attenuation in the field, while laboratory tests have measured reductions of some 43dB (99% of sound energy). These outstanding results are achieved with high-tech panels which are 50% lighter in weight than conventional solid acoustic barriers or sound blankets. Echo Barrier’s modular system of acoustic panels strikes the optimum balance between mass, weight and dimensions. The panels can be rapidly linked and configured to create a noise barrier that is both highly effective and physically easy to manage. Generally speaking, barrier mass has a major impact on sound transmission: the heavier the material, the less it vibrates, and consequently less sound passes through it. In practice, more sound tends to pass over a barrier rather than through it, so it can be advantageous for a barrier to be taller rather than simply greater in mass.
Echo Barrier’s modular system of acoustic panels strikes the optimum balance between mass, weight and dimensions. The panels can be rapidly linked and configured to create a noise barrier that is both highly effective and physically easy to manage.
To create an acoustic wall or curtain, they can be linked both vertically and laterally, or doubled up in thickness in order to absorb still more noise.
Echo Barrier’s system can adapt to all eventualities. Central to its success is an innovative hi-tech composite. Highly sound-absorbent, but also light in weight, it forms the heart of the portable, modular system.
Suitably configured, Echo Barrier’s system of acoustic panels reduces noise substantially for diverse projects and site geometries. Its components can be positioned, combined and layered to provide the best possible response to particular conditions and challenges. To create an acoustic wall or curtain, the panels can be linked both vertically and laterally.
Echo Barrier’s acoustic panels are resilient and built to last. Highly resistant to water, extreme weather and UV rays, they will perform to optimum effect year in, year out, even in the most demanding environments.
Echo Barrier’s manufacturing process, which includes hand-finishing, ensures both outstanding durability and a high standard of visual presentation. Looks really do matter: research has shown that the panels’ appearance contributes to positive perceptions of their performance. This has a bearing on any propensity to complain about noise.
Tested to international standards:
Water-resistant test standard BSEN 60529:1992 IPX6 / IPX9
Fire-resistant test standard BS 7837-1996 ASTM E84
Dust-resistant test standard BSEN 60529-1992
Cold-resistant test standard (result) BSEN 60068/2/1:2007
Tensile test standard (result) ISO 17025 (5.52kN vertical, 1.34 kN horizontal)
UV-resistant 3 years (USA + Canada), 5 years (rest of the world)
The geometry of noise mitigation concerns the relative positions of:
* i) any barrier;
* ii) the source of the noise it is intended to mitigate, and
* iii) the noise receiver (the human ear). The closer the barrier is placed to the noise source, the greater the noise attenuation: the barrier’s ‘acoustic shadow’ becomes larger – just as an object’s visual shadow becomes larger when placed closer to a light source. If a barrier is made taller, this also increases the acoustic shadow and reduces the amount of sound that passes over the barrier.
Echo Barrier offers a modular system of acoustic panels that are lightweight and easy and quick to deploy. It thus becomes simple to vary the site geometry in response to particular conditions and challenges, or to developments and changes in the course of a project.
When it comes to noise management in the field, it is especially important to attenuate frequencies between 300Hz and 1000Hz (low-to-medium frequency). Within that frequency range, Echo Barrier’s innovative acoustic panels offer, on average, an unprecedented 77% efficiency.
As a project progresses and circumstances change, Echo Barrier’s lightweight, compact panels can be readily reconfigured in response to different site geometries and new requirements for noise attenuation. They can also be linked both vertically and laterally, and doubled up in thickness, to create an acoustic curtain or wall.
