FIGURES FROM FRANCE TO MAKE YOU DIZZY A study published last June by the French Agency Against Noise (Conseil National du Bruit) and the French Environment Agency (ADEME) tried, for the first time, to estimate the total cost of noise pollution in France. The result? 57.2 billion euros in social costs. And this figure […]
Offices
Body language and psychoacoustic @ EFMC 2016
European Facility Management Conference, Milano 2016 Had the pleasure presenting about “Planning for Psychoacoustic – how to resolve office noise distraction” together with Nigel Oseland at EFMC 2016 in Milano last week. “Enhancing the People and Business” was the theme of the conference- which our method presented is just in line with. Our DARE principal in combination with […]
Busting the most common myths about room acoustics!
Acoustics is more often considered a niche subject than the other physical aspects of interior comfort. Maybe this is why assumptions and preconseptions guide the way in which people tend to deal with the sound quality of the interior environment. In India where I’m from, I’m frequently confronted by several presumptions or myths when I meet specifiers and the users of interior spaces. In […]
Study: less cognitive stress in open-plan offices with good acoustics
Saint- Gobain Ecophon and the Stress Research Institute in Stockholm conducted a unique study in a real-life office environment to examine how sound affects people in open plan offices. The aim was to see how the ceiling’s properties affect workers’ health, productivity and the perceived disturbance. And the result was clear – a better sound […]
The epic journey of activity based working
“Time and again, people fail to put enough effort into getting the acoustics right. Acoustics affect our behaviour and our productivity. The office design and the IT are the enablers.” Louis Lhoest – Veldhoen+Company Activity based working is more than desk sharing Activity based working (sometimes referred to as ABW) is frequently mentioned in […]
BBC discussed office noise and productivity
(And why working from home might not be the solution) Those of us working with building acoustics all have our own horror stories of projects that didn’t prioritise the sound environment and only afterwards realised that the space isn’t fit for purpose. So it’s great when mainstream media such as the Guardian and New Yorker, dedicates space and […]
Sundbyberg Study, Acoustic measurement reports + Publication
These are the measurement reports on the Sundbyberg study, a cross -over study in an open plan. Sundbyberg_Evaluation of room acoustic parameters in open plan offices ISO 3382-3_141128 Sundbyberg_Measurements of sound pressure level in open plan offices The link to the published paper you will find here.
On-line questionnaire looking at office psychacoustics and noise distraction
Dr. Nigel Oseland of Workplace Unlimited along with Paige Hodsman, Concept Developer for Offfice Environments in the UK and Ireland have conducted a literature review of over 100 research papers on how people respond to noise in the workplace. They found that scientific studies exploring the impact of noise on satisfaction report that on average sound only accounts […]
Health and Productivity in Sustainable Buildings Report launched
Polish Ministry of Economy and the World Green Building Council joined the conferencewhere the White Paper about “Health and Productivity in Sustainable Buildings.”launches The connection between the office indoor environment quality and productivity is the topic of white paper which has been prepared and newly launched by BuroHappold Engineering (engineering consultants), along with Skanska, Colliers, […]
Planning for Psychoacoustics
A Psychological Approach to Resolving Office Noise Distraction – a literature review. Whats your favorite place to work? In the open plan office, meeting room, in the cafeteria or at your homedesk?. Do you like sounds around you or does it just makes you distrubed and frusterated? Linked to your persona perhaps? Reported noise annoyance does correlate […]
