Oscar Elite acoustic plaster in Ottolenghi’s ROVI restaurant (photo: Adam Luszniak).
Acoustics have spent too long at the back of the design conversation. Specified late, value-engineered out, or addressed with products bolted on after the architecture has been decided, acoustic performance has rarely been treated with the same rigour as light, air or structure.
That needs to change.
SonaSpray Eco+ in Sownd Certified Downstairs at dMFK (photo: Ed Reeve).
Acoustic design is a wellbeing issue. It is also a commercial one.
The numbers make a compelling case. Poor acoustics cost UK businesses more than £40 billion a year through lost productivity, sick days, staff turnover and customer dissatisfaction. Around 60% of the UK population are negatively affected by their sound environment on a daily basis. This includes people with hearing or visual challenges, neurodiverse individuals, and those with other sensory sensitivities, for whom a noisy or reverberant space is not simply uncomfortable but excluding.
The challenge for architects is not recognising that acoustics matter. It is finding products that address the problem without creating new ones. Conventional acoustic tiles and panels absorb sound but interrupt the architecture. They impose a grid, a fixture, a visual language that competes with the design intent rather than serving it.
Oscar Elite applied within ceiling shapes in Fortnum & Mason’s 45 Jermyn St restaurant (photo: Martin Brudnizki Design Studio).
The seamless solution
Oscar Elite acoustic plaster takes a different approach. Applied as a seamless, monolithic finish across ceilings or walls, it carries the quality of a premium plaster finish while doing the acoustic heavy lifting beneath the surface. There are no visible joins, no panels, nothing to break the integrity of the interior. In hospitality spaces where atmosphere is everything, in workplaces where finish quality reflects brand, or in cultural buildings where the architecture is the experience, Oscar Elite delivers the acoustic control the space needs while leaving the design exactly as intended.
SonaSpray K-13 acoustic ceiling spray in Henrietta House offices. Morey Smith, CBRE Offices London (photo: Hufton+Crow).
Not every project calls for that level of refinement. Where exposed structure, industrial character or complex geometry defines the brief, the SonaSpray acoustic spray range offers the same acoustic performance in a spray-applied finish that can follow any contour and take on any colour. From fine to coarse texture, SonaSpray gives specifiers the flexibility to respond to the architecture rather than work against it.
SonaSpray white and light grey in Oscar Acoustics’ HQ and product showroom – The Oscar Innovation Centre. Tours available (photo: Antonia Stuart).
Sownd Certification
Both ranges now support something that matters beyond the building itself. Projects specifying Oscar Acoustics finishes automatically qualify for Bronze level Sownd Certification, the world’s first independent standard for audio-inclusive spaces, developed by Sownd Affects. Testing is carried out by the Institute of Sound and Vibration Research at the University of Southampton.
Launched in April 2026, the framework gives architects a clear, evidence-based way to specify and verify acoustic performance. As awareness of audio inclusion grows, Sownd Certification is becoming a recognised benchmark for interiors designed with comfort, accessibility and occupant wellbeing in mind.
