Have a look at some more summaries on open-plan office acoustics. “Determination of acoustic conditions in open offices and suggestions for acoustic classification” Valtteri Hongisto, Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, Turku, Finland DL2 and “radius of distraction” as the future acoustic descriptors in open offices? Speech privacy and the distraction efficiency of surrounding speech can […]
Offices
“How you improve speech privacy in open-plan offices”
Reported from ICA Madrid John Bradley – National Research Council, Montreal Better speech privacy in open-plan offices can be most consistently achieved by a combination of quantitative design procedures and validation measurements, says John Bradley. This has not usually been done in the past because of the lack of convenient design and measurement tools. While […]
Successful open plan office acoustics sessions at Noise at Work Forum in Lille, France
As previously announced, specific sessions on Open plan office acoustics respectively Call Centre acoustics took place yesterday 4th July at the European Forum on Effective Solutions for Managing Occupational Noise Risks in Lille (France). The sessions gathered approxilately 80 persons and vivid disussions took place after the presentations. The conclusions presented by the chairmen to […]
True insulation performance between offices – Canadian guidelines
A Canadian guide defines best practice in sustainable, public financed office buildings. In section 2.9.1, named “Flanking and Isolation”, performance criteria and methods are addressed: (…) The integrity of acoustical partitioning can be maintained by: * Extending partitions above the suspended ceiling; * Eliminating holes for ducts, pipes, conduits, cables etc.; * Providing appropriate acoustical […]
“Create Sound Policies”
Reported live from Ecophon 5th International Acousticians’ Seminar Marc Janssen of Ecophon (abstract) urged the participants to start working with Sound Policies. “We have to put requirements on paper. Standards help a lot. Use them to create sound policies, a tool to maintain or guarantee the quality of a workplace concept. It can among other […]
New French standard on office acoustics
NF S31- 080, Acoustics – Offices and associated areas – Acoustic performance levels and criteria by type of area, published January 2006, is the first French standard on office acoustics. It is designed as a reference document for clients to express their requirements, as well as a guide-line for office designers. Description Nine room types […]
Call centre room acoustics
Call centres are acoustically challenging environments. Australian/New Zealand Standard AS/NZS 2107:2000 “Recommended design sound levels and reverberation times for building interiors” addresses call centres. Recommended sound pressure level value in use (LAeq) Satisfactory = 40 dB(A), Maximum = 45 dB(A) Comments: my experience of call centres is that they belong to the category of spaces […]
Speech can be a source of disturbance at work
The new Swedish Work Environment Authority’s Statute Book on Noise (AFS Buller, 2005:16) has recently been published, and will be valid starting 1st July 2005. The Statute Book aims at supporting the new EU legislation on noise exposure of workers (2003/10/EG). One of the main new items is that disturbing speech from others can be […]
