Textile, aluminium and polyethylene used as components in laser protection curtains were investigated with respect to their ablation behaviour. Employing 33-fs pulses (800 nm wavelength, 1 kHz repetition rate), ex situ geometrical measurements of the ablation cavities and in situ acoustic investigations with a microphone were performed to determine the ablation thresholds in the single- and multi-pulse cases. The acoustical method proved advantageous for complex surface morphologies and/or single laser pulse interactions. Incubation phenomena can be observed for all the materials studied. Technically relevant multi-pulse ablation thresholds are presented and are compared with the single-pulse (1-on-1) irradiation. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.