Salons
Styling Stations Acoustic Design for Salons
Find the noise source and its route through the space. Treat sound leaking between rooms differently from echo inside one room.
Explore the ideas
Plan in this order
- List sources of speech, equipment and impact noise at the busiest time.
- Put quiet work away from busy edges where possible. Check doors, gaps and service penetrations before adding finishes.
- Use absorption for excessive echo. Ask an acoustic specialist where speech privacy or isolation is essential.
Worked example
Imagine a resident who hears a nearby television clearly but struggles to follow conversation because the room echoes. A caregiver also needs to hear a call bell.
Reduce room echo with soft, cleanable surfaces while keeping alert sounds audible from the caregiver's normal position. Test with the resident and care team; consult an acoustic professional if sound isolation is needed.
How to test it
Recreate the noisier activity and listen from adjoining seats and rooms with doors both open and closed.
Apply it to this space
- Layout
- Set stations in a repeated rhythm with clear turning space behind chairs and a shared tool route along the wall.
- Detail
- Use mirror lighting with high color clarity and wipeable surfaces for product and hair residue.
- Trade-off
- More stations increase appointment capacity but reduce stylist working room.
- Move around a chair with a trolley
- Check lighting on hair from front and side
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