Designing for WELL and LEED: How Acoustic Panels Contribute to Certification

Designing for WELL and LEED: How Acoustic Panels Contribute to Certification

Green building certification has evolved well beyond energy efficiency. Today, LEED v4 and the WELL Building Standard both place significant weight on indoor environmental quality — and acoustic performance is a key component of both.

For project teams working towards certification, specifying the right acoustic materials can contribute meaningfully to your point tally. Here's what you need to know.

WELL Building Standard: Sound and Acoustics

The WELL Building Standard includes a dedicated Sound concept with features addressing maximum background noise levels, reverberation time, and speech privacy. Specifying high-NRC panels in open offices, meeting rooms, and communal areas helps meet the reverberation time requirements, which target a maximum of 0.6 seconds in most workspace configurations.

FELTBAY PET felt panels — independently tested to ISO 354 — can be specified with confidence for WELL acoustic features. Our technical team can provide project-specific calculations upon request.

LEED v4: Indoor Environmental Quality

Under LEED v4, the Acoustic Performance credit awards points for meeting ANSI/ASA S12.60 standards for background noise and reverberation in classrooms and learning spaces. Commercial interiors projects can also target EQ credits related to low-emitting materials — where FELTBAY's VOC-tested and OEKO-TEX certified panels directly qualify.

Material Certifications and Transparency

FELTBAY is pursuing internationally recognised material certifications to support transparent specification. OEKO-TEX Standard 100 ensures our panels are tested for harmful substances and safe for occupied environments. The Global Recycled Standard (GRS) and Recycled Claim Standard (RCS) verify the recycled content in our PET felt materials, giving specifiers confidence in our sustainability claims. These certifications allow architects and designers to document material provenance and environmental credentials on projects pursuing LEED, WELL, or other green building frameworks.

The best acoustic solutions don't just perform well in isolation — they're part of a broader commitment to healthier, more responsible spaces.

Contact us to discuss your certification requirements and request relevant technical documentation.