On May 22-24, some 175 delegates from 18 countries gathered together in the beautiful venue at the Finnish-Swedish Cultural Center Hanaholmen. Located at the scenic seafront between Helsinki and Espoo in Finland. Three days of conference targeted even more than before to the people practising acoustics every day. This meant that one of the Baltic-Nordic […]
Healthcare
Renewed Room Acoustic standard, SS 25268:2023
Introduced in April 2023 the renewed room acoustic standard SS 25268:2023 [1] for the Swedish market is now less than a year old. The background and purpose of the standard is, among other things, to supplement the Swedish National Board of Housing, Building and Planning’s building regulations and other governing documents and to facilitate planning […]
People’s preferences of sound
Knowledge of the relation between people’s preferences and room acoustic parameters is critical for choosing the correct acoustic treatment and for creating good sound environments for people. In the frame of a PhD, people’s preferences regarding different acoustic environments were investigated. Their judgments were related to various room acoustics parameters. The results from the study […]
Robotic surgery – precise but noisy
Operating rooms for robotic surgery require sound absorption for lowered sound levels and improved speech intelligibility. Introduction Operating rooms (OR) in hospitals are supposed to be quiet, controlled spaces that allow doctors and nurses to focus on performing complex surgeries. Unfortunately, the reality is often very different. Noise from medical equipment, combined with poor room […]
Research and Development in Acoustics at Ecophon, EIAS 2023
In May 2023, it was again time for EIAS, Ecophon International Acoustics Seminar. We were utterly proud to once more host an event, focusing on development in room acoustics AND sharing a great time with some of the brightest minds within the field of acoustics. A bit more than 200 guests and 25 speakers from […]
Hungary’s Journey Towards Standardization in Room Acoustics: An Interview with Csaba Huszty
Standardization in Room Acoustics Room acoustics and electroacoustic systems are critical components of building design that can impact the quality of sound and speech intelligibility in various environments, from concert halls to classrooms and offices. In Hungary, the journey towards standardization in this area began over a century ago, but it wasn’t until 2020 that […]
Office noise increases stress hormone levels in blood plasma
Why this study? Valtteri Hongisto stated that there are no previous studies which have investigated the effects of office noise on the stress hormone levels (concentrations in the body) using the most precise and real-time method: i.e. blood sampling. Also a questionnaire was used to evaluate the effect. 100 person participated in the study and […]
LEED-ing the way in hospital acoustics
Growing up with parents that are also doctors, Pooja Ganatra – a sustainability and acoustic consultant for Buro Happold – spent much of her youth in hospitals. During this time, she witnessed the challenges poor acoustics imposed on patients and hospital workers first-hand. This inspired her to conduct research on this important subject, which she […]
Exploring the Design Preferences of Neurodivergent Populations for Quiet Spaces
At EIAS 2023 we were lucky to be joined by Toar Sadia, Senior Inclusive Design Consultant at Buro Happold. Toar gave an interesting and insightful talk on the importance of the design of quiet spaces. And the views and preferences of neurodivergent populations for design aspects of the space. Neurodivergent populations A quiet space (sometimes […]
The Influence of Acoustics on People featuring Neurodisorders
Dr Marco Caniato – Free University of Bozen in Italy presented this paper at EIAS2023. The influence of acoustics on people featuring neurodisorders. State-of-the-art and new perspectives As recently by the World Health Organisation, the percentage of people in the world suffering from neurodisorders, neurocognitive or neurodevelopmental disorder (as referred and described in the Diagnostic […]
