The Audio Spotlight is a revolutionary new audio technology developed by dr. Joseph Pompei, that creates sound in a narrow beam, just like light. Aim the flat, thin speaker disc to your desired listening area, and provide all of the sound — with none of the noise. Image the possibilities! Technology History The technique of […]
THOUGHTS ABOUT OPEN PLAN SPACES STANDARD 3382-3
This is an interview with PhD Valtteri Hongisto, Senior Research Scientist at the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health and Adjunct Professor at Helsinki University of Technology. He has performed a lot of acoustic research and has been involved in the creation of standards and guidelines, for example the Acoustic Classification of Spaces in buildings SFS […]
Influence of noise on patient’s sleep
Noise levels in hospitals are typically more than 15 dB(A) higher than target values given in guidelines (for example target values from WHO and the US Environmental Protection Agency). Furthermore, noise is often one of the top complaints from staff and patients. This is concluded in a review made by Hui Xie and Jian Kang […]
Every decibel counts!
I am Tobias Angelbeck, Concept Developer for Acoustics in Health Care Premises, Ecophon Germany. I talked to Dr. Jo Solet – the Clinical Instructor at the Harvard Medical School, Department of Psychiatry, Cambridge, MA (USA). Decibel counts Right now she and her department are doing two pieces of research. One on a behavioral research project […]
Simplified room acoustic measurement
Tor Halmrast Mr Tor Halmrast from Norway had a very interesting lecture about how to measure reverberation time, and how important it is to be a good “cougher”. Tor works with music and acoustics. When he is on holiday, he often finds interesting rooms what he wants to measure. To measure room acoustic parameters today […]
Why do we need standards?
Katrin Bergmark, Concept Developer – Healthcare, Ecophon Sweden. This question formed the introduction to the overview of acoustic standards in Europe presented by Katrin Bergmark, Concept Developer at Ecophon in Sweden. Katrin talked about the current situation regarding sound in health care premises. Hospitals are often experienced as very noisy, leading to health effects on […]
It’s going to be crowded in Paris this summer
As the summer is coming nearer, so is the conference Acoustics’08 in Paris. The number of registrations is amazingly high already and growing every day. Just some facts and numbers about the conference: Number of participants: 3777 Number of participating countries: 66 Number of abstracts: 3580 Number of oral sessions: 263 Number of poster sessions: […]
ABSORBING TRANSPARENCY – A WINNING THEME
Four architecture students from KTH in Stockholm received the first price at the the Future Workplace contest. Their proposal called “Absorbing Transparency” convinced the jury. High demands on acoustics They choose to create a room structure with high acoustic features to secure that transparency does not lead to an increase of soundlevels. The focus is […]
NEW DUTCH STANDARD SOON IN ENGLISH
Since August this year a new standard was published in the Netherlands dealing with noise at the workplace. An international interest in this standard will soon result in an english version to be made available. Planning for that is early next year. The full title is NPR 3438 Noise at the workplace – Determination of […]
“New descriptors for open offices are needed – NOW!”
Alternative room acoustic descriptors for open offices – progresses in standardization Pierre Chigot, Saint-Gobain Ecophon SA, France Pierre Chigot, Saint-Gobain Ecophon France Pierre Chigot explained us about the limitations regarding the use of Reverberation Time for acoustical assessment of open-plan offices. Large variance between measurement positions at low frequencies and poor reactivity to changes in […]
