Conference_programme: 18.4 - Office noise : psychological effects and room acoustic design

Lecture: A preliminary report on the acoustic measurements and noise survey conducted in Australian open-plan offices

Author(s): Yadav Manuj, Cabrera Densil, Kim Jungsoo, Holmes Jonothan , De Dear Richard, Love James

Summary:
The speech-borne noise issues in open-plan offices and their detrimental effects on worker’ productivity and wellbeing are well documented, and perhaps need no introduction. While the recent ISO (3382-3) for characterising the acoustics of open-plan offices represents an important development, as of yet, the number of studies that have validated the use of the standard are very few. Moreover, some studies have suggested benefits of using psychoacoustic metrics that are derived from measurements of the sound environment of occupied offices, which can complement the ISO measurements that are done in unoccupied offices. The current study presents the results of the first major Australian study of open-plan offices, where six offices were measured in both occupied and unoccupied states (several measurements per office floor), along with an extensive survey that was filled out by the office workers. The survey questions addressed the disturbance that can be attributed to speech and non-speech elements in the open-plan office sound environment, and the workers’ overall wellbeing. The results are discussed in relation to other field and laboratory studies of open-plan sound environments. Several aspects of the ISO measurement method are also discussed.\n

Corresponding author

Name: Dr Manuj Yadav

e-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Country: Australia