Shaping Sound to Create Competitive Edge in Athletic Training Centers
- FSorb
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
Before their big moment in the spotlight, athletes spend decades practicing alongside coaches and trainers in gyms and specialized facilities such as indoor batting cages.
The best athletes know repetitive practice develops the intuition and artistry they need on the world’s biggest stages.
But repetitive practice can also be noisy, and hearing the same sounds over and over can decrease our ability to focus and learn, limiting the benefits of practice.
FSorb sound panels can dampen this downside.
Why Use Sound Panels in Practice Facilities
The crack of the bat, the swish of the net, the slap of the puck. When these sounds fill a sports venue, a game, a season, or even an athlete’s career can hinge on what happens next.
So why use sound panels to mute these sounds?
FSorb panels don’t silence the game. Instead, they shape the sounds of the game to enhance the frequencies we want to hear while diminishing echoes and the negative effects of these sounds, especially in indoor training facilities.
In other words, FSorb creates more sonic clarity. For athletes working out in training facilities, this type of clarity can be a competitive edge, in the same way that a nutrition program or specific workout regimen can create an edge.
Sonic clarity helps athletes stay focused even as they shoot hundreds of jump shots and take swings at dozens of fastballs, helping them get the most out of every practice session.
FSorb’s Competitive Edge for Athletic Training
Like an elite athlete, FSorb outperforms its competitors in training facilities. But instead of counting batting averages or three point percentages, sound panels measure success through their Noise Reduction Coefficient, or NRC.
Since our panels are solid and simple, FSorb delivers higher NRCs than other panels of comparable sizes. In fact, our panels tend to perform above what our advertised NRC ratings show. For instance, using 1" FSorb panels (with an average NRC of 0.70) in a batting cage will feel like it is in the 0.85 range based on the sounds that those baseballs and bats are making.
This is true because our panels filter more of the higher frequencies which tend to scatter more randomly around training spaces, creating a lot of the discomfort repetitive noises create.
How Does Shaping Sound Help Athletes?
The best athletes harness the sounds of their game intuitively to inform their decisions in real time. In crowded practice facilities, it’s harder for the human ear to focus only on the sounds that matter. Soundwaves from neighboring practice sessions, for example, clutter up the aural atmosphere.
With FSorb filtering out unwanted sounds, athletes and trainers can focus on the sounds that matter most to their performance.
Whether that sound is a driver’s contact with the golf ball, a tennis ball’s contact with the court, or the voice of a coach or trainer on the other side of the room, hearing better means training better.
Why FSorb Overperforms in Training Facilities
Since its introduction in 2009, FSorb has been a game changer for athletic facilities, from YMCAs filled with tomorrow’s stars to private practice facilities owned by professional sports franchises.
Here’s why:
FSorb is Durable
Typical sound panels wrap fabric around a wooden structure and then fill the hollow spaces with sawdust or some type of synthetic filler. A ball or a puck striking one of these panels can weaken the internal structure, changing the panel’s ability to perform.
To make FSorb panels, we use one material — recyclable plastic — from the inside out. There are no hollow spaces and no internal structure to damage. When a ball or a puck strikes an FSorb panel, the panel can absorb the impact just like it absorbs sound.
FSorb is Flexible
The same simple design that makes FSorb durable also gives these panels flexibility. Our panels can be cut to fit any facility’s needs. They can be installed from any point on the panel, eliminating the need for installers to align preexisting anchor points to walls or ceilings.
For most indoor athletic training facilities, we recommend our 1-inch panels, but we also offer ½-inch and 2-inch thicknesses. Because of their simple design and flexibility, FSorb panels at any thickness outperform other panels in the same category.
FSorb is Sustainable
The FSorb recipe features recycled plastic fibers that we mold into shape. We use the simplest type of consumer plastic, Type 1 or PET (Polyethylene Terephthalate). This was the original consumer plastic, and it’s still used to make plastic water bottles.
It’s also the easiest type of plastic to recycle. Almost every municipal recycling program accepts PET. Decades from now, when it’s time to retire the panels, they can be placed in recycling bins along with plastic bottles.
FSorb is Adaptable
FSorb panels arrive on a job site as a building material. Like any building material, FSorb panels can be cut into any size or shape. They can be combined with other panels to create three-dimensional clusters.
We also offer a variety of standard colors along with the ability for designers to special order their own specific colors. We can also print any logo or pattern on our panels. This adaptability turns the best performing sound absorption gear into an interior design element.
FSorb is Clean
Making sound panels from one material eliminates the need for the adhesives and other chemicals that hold traditional sound panels together. FSorb panels achieve their cohesion during the manufacturing process as different plastic fibers bond together at different temperatures.
This means FSorb panels do not release volatile organic compounds (VOCs) into the air inside athletic training facilities, allowing for cleaner and safer air. And it means moisture won’t threaten the structural integrity of our panels.
FSorb is Easy to Clean and Maintain
There’s no special maintenance program required when you install FSorb panels. Because of their durability and simplicity, FSorb is also easy to clean and maintain. With typical installations, cleaning crews can simply dust our panels to keep them clean.
If, for some reason, panels need more thorough cleaning, applying a damp cloth should be enough to restore the panels to their original appearance. Since there’s no fabric or wood, our panels are mold and mildew resistant, even in moist climates.
FSorb Is Always Available
We create and stock FSorb panels in our Woodinville, WA factory and we also ship them to distribution centers around North America. This system lets us ship our standard products to job sites across the continent quickly.
FSorb Does Its Job Well
Adaptability, flexibility, availability, ease of installation, sustainability — these features sound great, but they matter only if sound panels also absorb sound well. FSorb performs at the top of its class, helping create the ideal sonic environment for practice facilities.
Because of their simplicity and durability, FSorb panels can excel at their job, without fuss, for decades.
FSorb Improves Focus In Other Areas, Too
The benefits of improving a soundscape extend beyond athletic training sessions. Researchers are starting to see mental health benefits that grow from more peaceful sonic environments.
In short, people focus better and experience less mental strain when they don’t have to work so hard to ignore unnecessary noise. FSorb does this filtering before sound waves reach the ears of the people who visit places such as:
Yoga and Pilates Studios: Practitioners seek balance in these kinds of spaces. Shaping sound helps.
Meeting Rooms: Whether they’re filled with sound or with silence, religious and spiritual centers can create more positive environments with FSorb.
Arts Centers: Visual art galleries, pottery studios, poetry readings — any art endeavor needs focus and calm.
Medical Centers: Private conversations about health care stay private more easily in clinics and waiting rooms with FSorb panels.
Outdoor Spaces: FSorb’s durability and high level of performance make it a great solution for outdoor areas, too, especially pools and sports areas.
Sound treated areas tend to be places visitors want to return to again and again.
FSorb Is Ready to Deliver Value to Your Building
As a career builder, FSorb founder Doug Bixel already knew the value of top-quality, easy-to-integrate building supplies when he launched FSorb in 2009.
Doug started FSorb with a commitment to deliver simple, elegant solutions to the market for sound panels. This commitment drives every decision we make, from design to delivery and beyond.
When we deliver sound panels that are durable, attractive, simple, safe, clean, and sustainable, we deliver value that keeps giving for decades into the future.
Contact us today to discuss your project. FSorb experts can help you plan and design your panels and offer a point of contact throughout any project.
At FSorb, we are motivated by improving human health and do so by creating eco-friendly acoustic products. Our mission is to help designers build beautiful spaces that reduce excess ambient noise while calming the human nervous system. With over 25 years in the acoustic business we stand behind FSorb as a durable, environmentally friendly, and low-cost product. If you want an acoustic solution that is safe to human health at an affordable price, then we are your resource.
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