Gypsum-panel acoustical monolithic ceiling

A rectangular acoustical panel comprising a drywall sheet of a thickness of at least 1/2 inch (12 mm) or metric industry equivalent having a gypsum-based core and paper front and rear face layers, the drywall sheet being perforated through its faces and core with holes at least 1/8 inch (3.2 mm) in diameter and of sufficient number to comprise at least 9% of a face area of the panel, the front face being covered by a porous non-woven glass fiber veil having a translucence rendering it incapable of fully concealing the holes, the veil being covered with a non-bridging coating, the combined veil and coating being effective to conceal the holes while affording sufficient porosity therethrough to allow the panel to exhibit an NRC of at least .55, short edges of the panel for forming butt joints with identical panels having locally tapered areas at a front face of the panel for reception of joint tape and joint compound below a plane of a major part of the front face of the panel. This invention addresses the problem of providing an economical acoustical gypsum panel that can be used for producing a monolithic appearing ceiling.