Acoustical privacy in the landscaped office

Abstract

/npsi/ctrl?lang=en http://nparc.cisti-icist.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/npsi/ctrl?lang=fr Access and use of this website and the material on it are subject to the Terms and Conditions set forth at http://nparc.cisti-icist.nrc-cnrc.gc.ca/npsi/jsp/nparc_cp.jsp?lang=en NRC Publications Archive Archives des publications du CNRCThis publication could be one of several versions: author's original, accepted manuscript or the publisher's version. / La version de cette publication peut être l'une des suivantes : la version prépublication de l'auteur, la version acceptée du manuscrit ou la version de l'éditeur. America, 53, 6, pp. 1535America, 53, 6, pp. -1543America, 53, 6, pp. , 1973 Acoustical privacy in the landscaped office Warnock, A. C. C. Two landscaped oflices were used for field studies of the acoustical isolation value of masking noise, absorptive ceilings and partial-height screens. The occupants of one of the oflices were recruited for a subjective study of the relative acceptability of various masking noises. The study showed that this group consistently preferred less noise -a conclusion that contradicts some previous experience. Interviews indicated that the acceptability of masking noise is closely linked to the occupants' activities and the resulting need for privacy. Propagation measurements were made under a flat lay-in ceiling configuration to determine the effectiveness of screens, ceiling materials and ceiling baffles. The ceiling baffles were not found to be a practical means of ensuring a low ceiling reflection coeflicient. The results of the measurements are analyzed in terms of changes in articulation index. Consideration of the area disturbed by a hypothetical speaker emphasizes the importance of small relative changes in articulation index caused by small changes in physical parameters. Journal of the Acoustical Society of

Measures for assessing architectural speech security (privacy) of closed offices and meeting rooms

“…In this way the fraction of words actually understood was scored. In intelligibility tests using rhyming words, the scoring can be done similarly, but subjects are able to guess correctly as often as 20% of the time, 9 which means they are particularly unsuitable in assessing security situations, where scores as low as 0% are expected.…”

A mathematical model for a single screen barrier in open-plan offices

“…Obviously, the heavier the screen material, or the higher the frequency, the greater the transmission loss for sound going through the screen. Actually, in comparing the transmitted sound through the screen with the diffracted sound over the screen, Warnock [14] found that if the surface density of a single screen satisfies the following relationship,…”

“…In open-plan offices, since most screens are thin and lightweight structures, the sound transmission through single screen barriers may not always be neglected. The transmission loss of a single screen barrier can be written according to the mass law [14] , 2 ) is the mass per unit area, and f is the frequency. Obviously, the heavier the screen material, or the higher the frequency, the greater the transmission loss for sound going through the screen.…”

Sound propagation between two adjacent rectangular workstations in an open-plan office—part I: mathematical modeling

“…Other work has discussed the factors that may improve speech privacy subjectively, such as vocal effort [4] , and added masking sound [5] . These publications are useful to the design of a good acoustical environment in an open-plan office.…”

“…For many years, much work has been performed to investigate the acoustical elements that could affect the physical acoustical environment in open-plan offices, such as office screens [1,2] , ceiling and floor reflections [2,3] , speaker orientation [4,5] , and side panel reflections on the source side [6] . Other work has discussed the factors that may improve speech privacy subjectively, such as vocal effort [4] , and added masking sound [5] .…”