Putting our experience to work for you.
We invest in the technologies we recommend. Some of these are used as simulations to better explain environments before they are constructed.
Salter completed a LEED-Gold certified office expansion in the historic Hallidie Building. The new space is a flexible showplace and teaching environment demonstrating new acoustical, audiovisual, telecommunications, and security technologies within a sustainable office design. Our technology studio includes high-definition conferencing capabilities nested in a space that is designed for speech intelligibility and privacy. We deploy a sophisticated audio system, known as Meyer Sound Constellation, which allows architects and facilities groups to experience different reverberation times within our studio, helping them assess the level of acoustical needs for their spaces.
To better inform clients, Salter also has an in-house presentation studio to simulate acoustical environments. We have a subsidiary company, the Audio Forensic Center, providing audio, video, and multi-media forensic analysis and expert witness services.
In 1998, Salter authored ACOUSTICS: Architecture, Engineering, the Environment, a book for architects, engineers, facility owners and managers, specifiers, contractors, and other professionals with a need for information on acoustics. The 320-page reference book utilizes full color photographs, illustrations, and more than 50 case studies to help the reader understand how to approach acoustical design issues for all building types.
Course 100: Overview of Acoustical Design
We'll discuss room acoustics, sound isolation, mechanical equipment noise and vibration reduction, cost/benefits, and legal issues. Examine acoustical criteria in Building Codes, LEED documentation, ASHRAE handbook, and other industry standards for several building types. Learn from exciting case studies for projects of various scopes and budgets, including a world-renowned concert hall, a large mixed-use development, and a university laboratory building.Course 200: Fundamentals of Acoustical Design
Learn about the fundamentals of acoustics in this multi-media presentation addressing room shape, sound-isolating assemblies, and mechanical equipment noise and vibration control.Course 300: Environmental Acoustics
This multi-media presentation addresses environmental acoustics and its implications for public policies, mitigation approaches, general plan elements, noise ordinances, and land use criteria.Course 400: Architectural Design - Acoustics and Audiovisual Systems
Join in an exploration of acoustics and audiovisual system design for spaces such as home theaters, classrooms, boardrooms, courtrooms, council chambers, and worship spaces.Course 500: Office Acoustics Design Workshop
Learn how to design for speech privacy in open-plan and private offices. Using our open-plan demonstration facility, participants will experience how sound levels change with distance, shielding room partitions, and electronic sound masking systems.Course 600: Telecommunications in Buildings - Programmatic Input to Architectural Layouts
Learn how to make buildings ready for data networks. This introductory course covers the building and space requirements to construct a communications network.Course 700: Communication Systems in Architecture - Telecommunications Technology
Learn how IT systems are integrated in contemporary buildings. This advanced course highlights wired and wireless networking for voice and data, including fiber and copper cabling, and wireless LANS.Course 800: Case Studies in Audiovisual System Design
Through case studies, discuss the elements of audiovisual design, including audio systems, teleconferencing and distance learning systems, sound masking, multimedia web content engineering, and network operations command and control centers. Learn about programming, design issues, cost analysis, and construction/post-constructionchallenges.
Course 900: Architectural Challenges of Technology Infrastructure
Learn how to be more efficient designing technology systems, reducing planning costs, and providing added value to clients from an architectural standpoint to prepare your building for technology needs by way of infrastructure.Course 1000: Acoustics and Energy Conservation in HVAC Systems
This course provides knowledge on how noise reduction and energy efficiency can work together in HVAC system design. The program will discuss some principles that reduce both energy consumption and noise.Course 1100: Residential Acoustical Design
Multi-family housing includes buildings such as for-sale condominiums and townhouses, rental apartments, and hotels. We will discuss the importance of sound isolation in the design of multi-family housing. This includes issues such as building Code requirements, City and County regulations, project quality/marketability, room layout, sound isolation of demising partitions, environmental noise, plumbing noise, HVAC noise, elevator noise, and other noise sources.Course 1200: Architectural Insights into Building Technology
The increasing cost and complexity of technology within buildings challenge the architect to deliver successful projects to their clients. After a technology program has been established, the architect faces the challenge of seeing that the technology is both aesthetically and functionally integrated with the building. Delivering technology that works in the hands of the end-user further challenges the architect. This program explores a process for delivering projects with technology systems that are within budget, enable the client's process, and work well.Course 1300: Courtroom Technology Study
This presentation provides a summary of a 28-city study of federal courtroom technology. The study examines how courtroom technology increases the effectiveness and efficiencies of trials and other courtroom operations. The presentation also identifies best practices for design, procurement, installation, training, and maintenance of courtroom technology systems.Course 1400: Planning for Security in the Built Environment
Learn how to integrate passive and active security into site planning. Identify which related systems must be coordinated with security during core and shell design. Learn why security projects fail and how to avoid costly construction and Code-related issues. Learn about the convergence of technology and impact on space planning.Course 1500: Post-Pandemic Transformations in Higher Education
With exponentially increasing capabilities, computers and networks have played an ever-increasing role in how audiovisual technology is used in the learning space. However, while technology adoption has been steady and expected, the Pandemic has caused a sudden disruption for how we teach and learn on campus. With these new expectations, architects must reevaluate how learning spaces are planned. This course examines architectural considerations for these post-pandemic transformations.ACOUSTICS: Architecture, Engineering, the Environment
Salter
William Stout Publisher, 1998
Open Office Acoustics in Mass Timber Construction
Ethan Salter and Valerie Smith
INCE-USA Noise-Con Paper, 2020
Videoconferencing in A Post-Pandemic World: A Historical Perspective
Ken Graven
Keeping Staff and Clients Safe after COVID-19 Shelter-in-Place
Rob Hammond and Ryan Raskop
Moving from Open Offices Will Improve Acoustics
Greg Enenstein
Assembly Space Renovation Challenges: Town School for Boys Theater/Gymnasium
Jason Duty
178th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America Paper, 2019
Experiences with Gym Noise and Vibration in Mixed-Use Buildings
Diego Hernandez, Ethan Salter, and Felipe Tavera
What's New in Office Acoustics Design Standards
Charles Salter and Ethan Salter
Development of a Framework to Implement a Recycling Program in an Elementary School
Blake Wells
Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 2014
Sound Pressures Generated by Exploding Eggs
Tony Nash and Lauren von Blohn
174th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America Paper, 2017
Forensic Sound Analyses of Cellular Telephone Recordings
Durand Begault, Adrian Lu, and Philip Perry
Audio Engineering Society 139th Convention Paper 9472, 2015
Intelligent Building Technology: The Evolution of the AV Consultant
Ken Graven
Analysis Criteria for Forensic Musicology
Durand Begault, Heather Heise, and Christopher Peltier
The Journal of the Acoustical Society America, Volume 133, Issue 5: 3244, 2013
Supporting Dynamic Infrastructure Loads from a Vibrating Structure
Alex Salter
166th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America Paper, 2013
Achieving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design acoustical requirements in a commercial office project
Ethan Salter
The Journal of the Acoustical Society America, Volume 133, Issue 5: 3225, 2013
Acoustical Measurement Software Housed on Mobile Operating Systems Test
Felipe Tavera
Audio Engineering Society 135th Convention Paper, 2013
Uncertainty in the Measurement of the Electrical Network Frequency
Durand Begault, Anthony Nash, and Christopher Peltier
Audio Engineering Society 46th Convention Paper, 2012
Construction of an Artificial Ear Using the DADEC Model
Felipe Tavera
Revista Ingenium. Volume 13. No. 25, 2011
Sustainable Design and Acoustics
Ethan Salter
In Architectural Acoustics: Principals and Practice, ed. William J. Cavanaugh, Gregory C. Tocci, and Joseph A. Wilkes, 2nd ed. 273-294. John Wiley & Sons, 2010
Volume Control: Keeping the Sound Down in Urban, Mixed-Use Projects
Ethan Salter
Form Magazine November/December Issue: 44, 2010
Classroom Acoustics in the Developing World
Valerie Smith
INCE-USA Noise-Con Paper, 2010