ABD Engineering and Design
ABD Engineering and Design is one of North America’s leading independent acoustical consulting and AV design firms, serving clients across the United States and Canada, as well as other international markets from offices in Grand Rapids, MI and Portland, OR. Our specialized acoustical engineering and AV design practices help architects, building owners, engineers, facility directors, and municipalities design spaces, environments, and systems for optimal acoustical and audiovisual performance. Our consulting practice areas specialize in all aspects of architectural acoustics, environmental and industrial noise and vibration control, and audiovisual systems design.
ABD Engineering and Design's Blog Posts
Generally speaking, sound systems in industrial spaces are there to serve two purposes. One is to reproduce pages for people in the plant to hear. The second is to play background music for people to listen to. For years, it's been about that simple. An amplifier,...
Healthcare Study Links Noise to Patient Satisfaction
For years, the healthcare industry has used patient satisfaction surveys to gauge hospital performance and to identify ways for improving the healing environment. And the industry's standard surveyor, Press Ganey Satisfaction Surveys, has always shown the number one...
Hotel Room Noise Isolation = A Good Night’s Rest
Due to the nature of our work and the locations of our clients, we are always traveling. One thing that I've noticed in my many years at ABD is that there is a vast difference in the quality of the rooms at any given hotel. When I check in, I have a few requests that...
Planning for Acoustical Separation of MRI Rooms in Hospitals
In my last post, I discussed the acoustical design of hospital patient rooms, minimizing disturbance from noise produced by activity in the corridor, by phone calls and discussions at the nurses' stations, and by noise from nearby patient rooms. But that's only the...
Acoustics for Video Venues & Portable Churches
From mega-churches to small town congregations, the video-venue concept is becoming a staple of church growth. For those not "in the know", a "video-venue" is a church meeting where parts of the service (typically the sermon or message) are piped in via video signal...