Quick answer: Acoustic pendant lights, usually felt shades, soak up a little sound right above tables and look great. But each one is small, so a room needs a lot of them to make a real difference. Ceiling clouds and panels cover far more area for the money. They work best together: lights for style, panels for sound.

Key takeaways

  • Felt lights soak up a little sound.
  • Each one is small; you need many.
  • Lights for style, panels for sound.

How they work

A felt shade soaks up some sound above the table, like a very small cloud. The felt is soft, so sound that hits it does not bounce straight back. The effect is local to that table.

The catch

A shade covers far less area than a panel. One light does little for a whole room. You would need many lights to match a few ceiling panels.

Not sure what your room needs? Send us a photo on WhatsApp or request a free quote. We'll tell you how many panels, where they go and the price. See our restaurant acoustic panels and recent projects.

Lights vs panels infographic

Where panels win

Clouds and panels cover big areas of ceiling and wall. A single 1200 × 600 mm panel covers more area than most shades. Our 50 mm panels are NRC (a score from 0 to 1 for how much sound a panel soaks up) 1.00. See ceiling vs wall panels.

Felt lights vs ceiling panels diagram

Best together

Hang felt lights over tables and clouds in between. Add panels on one long wall. The lights add style and the panels do most of the sound work.

Restaurants

The ceiling is the biggest hard surface in most restaurants. Start with ceiling panels, then add lights for style. A 10 × 6 m dining room usually needs 28 to 38 panels. See restaurant acoustics.

Offices

Felt lights over meeting tables help a little. Ceiling and wall panels do the main work. A 6 × 4 m meeting room usually needs 8 to 12 panels.

Matching colours

Pick panel colours that sit well with the felt shades. That ties the look together. We have 39 fabric colours to choose from.

Fire safety

Check the fire test papers for any felt product in a commercial space. Our Flexi™ panels are fire safe. Ask each light supplier for their own papers.

What we see on real jobs

Felt lights look good, but they cover a small area. The ceiling still needs real panels to stop the echo.

Get a straight answer for your room

WhatsApp us (+65 8930 1905) a photo of your dining room, ideally taken during service, and tell us when it gets loudest. We'll come back with a ceiling-and-wall plan and a price. Ask us about installing outside opening hours.

WhatsApp us a photo · Request a free quote · See prices

Related reading