[4] The instrument is constructed from two half-shells of deep drawn, nitrided steel sheet[5][6] glued together at the rim leaving the inside hollow and creating the shape of a convex lens.

The bottom ("Gu") is a plain surface that has a rolled hole in the center with a tuned note that can be created when the rim is struck.

The name Hang comes from a Bernese German word that has a double-meaning, one of which is hand and the other hillside[9] referring to its convex shape.

[10] Growth of a worldwide interest in the Hang created a group of similar instruments that are referred to as handpans, a term coined in 2007 by the American steelpan producer Pantheon Steel.

The top (Ding) side of the Hang, depending on how it is played, can sound like a harp, bells, or harmonically tuned steelpans.

The bottom side of the Hang has a round opening, the Gu, producing together with the air in the cavity a Helmholtz resonance similar to a ghatam or an udu.

In the second generation, Integral Hang and Free Integral Hang adjustment of the size of the Gu (by partially blocking it with either a hand, or the legs) can generate a sympathetic D2 from the Helmholtz resonance, which introduces subtle layers of cross complexities in the resonance of the instrument as notes are played on the Ding side.

In the first- and second-generation models there is a single high note with a long sustain that can be generated by striking the rim of the hole on the 'Gu' side.

The side considered the bottom has an opening (Gu) in the center, which allows the generation of the bass note through Helmholtz resonance.

The Hang makers took their initial inspiration from ethnomusicological roots with models such as the Aeolian, Ake Bono, Hijaz, Melog, Pygmy, and Zhi Diao.

In the first generation each creation was numbered, the name of the sound model was written, and a signature of either Felix Rohner or Sabina Schärer was on a small note pasted on the inside of the top (Ding) surface.

By developing the Integral Hang, Rohner and Schärer distanced themselves from the idea of building an instrument for the needs of professional musicians.

[15] Their aims and ambitions were published in a 'Letter from the Hangbauhaus': Our concepts, developments and implementations are far from the musical norms of modern times that require study, practice and performance.

[17] In the free tuning of a Hang, the focus is not about the precise mathematical frequency ratios of the partials of a tone field, but on the impact of the entire sound.

In an acoustic-mathematical analysis, Anthony Achong substantiated that this detuning is the most important parameter in influencing the structure of a steelpan tone: the duration of the partials as well as the amplitude and frequency modulations.