Anyone who has ever given or tried to listen to a speech in a room with poor acoustics will be encouraged by the research of Sarah Bonnemaison, of Dalhousie University, and Robin Muller, from NSCAD University.

The pair, through their Architextile@Lab research group, have developed a mechanized ceiling system that can alter the acoustics of a room by adjusting a series of rotating tiles. The tiles can both deflect and absorb sound, as the situation requires.

“The concept for this project was to transform any room into a musical instrument,” Bonnemaison explains. “We didn’t want to merely absorb, diffuse or reflect sound. Our goal was to create a dynamic and interactive system that could respond to changing sound qualities in a room and ‘tune’ it for a desired activity.”

The technology includes a pattern recognition program that can automatically adjust the tiles to create the perfect acoustics. The acoustic ceiling module is one of five projects developed at the lab. The entire research effort is aided largely by $1.3 million from ACOA.

The Faculty of Architecture and Planning at Dalhousie University is currently testing the ceiling prototype in a room used for exhibitions and reviews. The tests are scheduled to run for six months.

“I believe noise pollution is becoming the next issue architects and interior designers will need to tackle,” Bonnemaison says. “As our society ages, being able to hear well in a restaurant or airport will become increasingly important. To have acoustic modules that can adapt… as needed would be extremely valuable.”