New AIA/CES: Acoustic Ceilings for Healthcare

Our new “Designing Acoustic Ceilings for Healthcare Buildings” in-person course helps architects, interior designers and other design professionals learn more about creating attractive, effective, acoustic ceilings for health care facilities, while earning their professional development credits.

Participants are eligible to earn 1.0 Learning Units (LU) from the American Institute of Architects’ Continuing Education System (AIA/CES). In addition to AIA/CES LUs, this new educational course from Rockfon is registered and approved by: the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the Interior Design Continuing Education Council (IDCEC), as well as in Canada by the Architectural Institute of British Columbia (AIBC), and meets the Ontario Association of Architects (OAA) criteria.

About the course

“In this accredited course, we take a practical look at the five key challenges for acoustic ceilings in different types of health care facilities and the many interior spaces within them,” said Rockfon’s acoustic specialist Gary Madaras, Ph.D., Assoc. AIA.

Hospitals, medical offices, elder care facilities, pediatric facilities, pharmacies, and urgent care clinics are some of the health care building types represented in the course. Ceiling system components discussed in the presentation include acoustic stone wool ceiling panels, metal ceiling panels, and ceiling suspension systems.

Those who successfully complete the course will be able to:

• Recognize the challenges regarding effective acoustical and sustainable design that healthcare buildings face today, including acoustic safety, room atmosphere and indoor air quality (IAQ)
• Understand how designing health care spaces, while keeping in mind the people who occupy and work in them, leads to a better healing environment for the patients, a more productive one for the hospital staff and a more efficient one for caregivers
• Recognize the negative effects of noise, poor IAQ and anti-microbial chemicals can have on the well-being of occupants
• Apply what is learned about acoustical ceilings, holistically, to specific project designs

Ensuring compliance, optimizing acoustics

The Facility Guidelines Institute (FGI) guidelines for the design and construction of health care facilities and other health care building standards also are covered in Rockfon’s course.

In regards to compliance with FGI's guidelines, Madaras noted, “This new course covers noise reduction in patient care areas using acoustic ceiling panels with high Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC) ratings to help absorb unsafe sound and promote sleeping and healing."

Gary continues, "it also covers sound insulation and speech privacy between rooms, using either full-height walls or acoustic plenum barriers. This is also important for complying with the oral privacy rules of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA).”

Creating healthy spaces for healing

According to the course, safety and sustainability are key aspects of any health care building’s ceiling design. A ceiling system’s performance and material attributes can impact everyday work conditions. For example, poor light reflectance can lead to eye strain and fatigue, a concern in an industry where vital health information is assessed. 

Other key considerations include choosing ceiling panels that do not support the growth of mold or other microorganisms and clean easily. “We don’t add antimicrobials for our products to defend against microbial growth. Firstly, we don’t need them in our acoustic stone wool panels. Secondly, such chemicals are non-essential and could cause more harm than good,” explained Rockfon’s sustainability manager Christian Kofod.

Rockfon stone wool ceiling products do not have added biocides for end-use considerations and are GREENGUARD^® GOLD Certified for low chemical emissions.

Design professionals don’t have to choose between IAQ, cleanability and acoustics when selecting ceiling material for health care facilities. They can have it all and aesthetics, too. Rockfon’s ceiling portfolio offers an extensive range of colors, textures, edges and dimensions to create welcoming, vibrant and calming healing spaces.