Comfort Distance—A Single-Number Quantity Describing Spatial Attenuation in Open-Plan Offices

Hongisto, Valtteri; Keränen, Jukka

doi:10.3390/app11104596

Cited by 14 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 18 publications

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“…Furthermore, another study shows that when a masking sound is added to the office environment, subjects report significantly better concentration and cognitive performance in comparison with no added masking sound (Mueller et al, 2021). Other studies have replicated the positive effect of different types of masking sounds on both the indices of the cognitive performance in the subjects such as their speech transmission index, memory error rate, and working memory capacity, as well as their subjective evaluations such as perceived annoyance rate and the perceived sound privacy (Hongisto et al, 2004;Schlittmeier and Liebl, 2015;Renz et al, 2018b).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Sound masking by a low-pitch speech-shaped noise improves a social robot’s talk in noisy environments

Pourfannan,

Mahzoon,

Yoshikawa

et al. 2024

Front. Robot. AI

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Introduction: There has been a surge in the use of social robots for providing information, persuasion, and entertainment in noisy public spaces in recent years. Considering the well-documented negative effect of noise on human cognition, masking sounds have been introduced. Masking sounds work, in principle, by making the intrusive background speeches less intelligible, and hence, less distracting. However, this reduced distraction comes with the cost of increasing annoyance and reduced cognitive performance in the users of masking sounds.Methods: In a previous study, it was shown that reducing the fundamental frequency of the speech-shaped noise as a masking sound significantly contributes to its being less annoying and more efficient. In this study, the effectiveness of the proposed masking sound was tested on the performance of subjects listening to a lecture given by a social robot in a noisy cocktail party environment.Results: The results indicate that the presence of the masking sound significantly increased speech comprehension, perceived understandability, acoustic satisfaction, and sound privacy of the individuals listening to the robot in an adverse listening condition.Discussion: To the knowledge of the authors, no previous work has investigated the application of sound masking technology in human-robot interaction designs. The future directions of this trend are discussed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Sound masking by a low-pitch speech-shaped noise improves a social robot’s talk in noisy environments

Pourfannan,

Mahzoon,

Yoshikawa

et al. 2024

Front. Robot. AI

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“…Therefore the indicators in ISO 3382-3 are intuitively designed to describe the potential intelligibility of speech, by describing the distance at which speech starts to become less distracting (Distraction distance, rD), the spatial rate of decay of speech (D2,s), the speech level at 4 m (Lp,A,S,4m), and the background sound level in the unoccupied office (Lp,B). In the 2022 revision to ISO 3382-3 the notional distance at which the speech level falls below 45 dBA, the comfort distance (Rc) [11], was added, as this integrates both the speech level at 4 m and spatial decay of speech into one single number quantity (SNQ). A review of the efficacy of the initial indicators was published by Haapakangas et al in 2017 [12].…”

Section: Associations Between Room Acoustics and Occupant Satisfactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Designing for Acoustic Satisfaction in Open Plan Offices

HARVIE-CLARK,

DOBINSON,

HINTON

et al. 2023

Acoustics 2023

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This paper proposes a new approach for understanding and designing for acoustic satisfaction in open-plan offices using a soundscape framework. Good acoustics are not a property of the space: rather, acoustic satisfaction resides in the perception of occupants. There is little evidence linking room acoustic metrics with occupant satisfaction in general. Non-acoustic factors such as noise sensitivity, perceived control, personal need for privacy, expectations, and office culture strongly influence the experience of sound. Non-acoustic factors account for twice the variance in annoyance than acoustic factors in many branches of acoustics. To design for acoustic satisfaction, this paper advocates adopting human-centric and participatory design methods like surveys and focus groups. These methods can identify the range of spaces occupants need, and can also be used to continuously improve acoustic satisfaction after occupancy starts. Additionally, this paper discusses risk factors in acoustic design like incompatible team adjacencies. Incorporating human factors with a soundscape approach, not just technical acoustics, can be used to create offices tailored for comfort, health, and productivity. The paper calls for changing the narrative around "good acoustics" from the empty room to the occupants' perceptual experience.

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“…This study by Hongisto and Keränen [12] introduces a new single-number quantity, the comfort distance r C , that integrates the quantities of the A-weighted sound pressure level of speech, L p,A,S,4m , and the spatial decay rate of speech, D 2,S , used in ISO 3382-3. The new quantity describes the distance from an omnidirectional loudspeaker where the Aweighted sound pressure level of normal speech falls below 45 dB.…”

Section: Comfort Distance-a Single-number Quantity Describing Spatial...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Special Issue: Advances in Architectural Acoustics

2022

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Comfort Distance—A Single-Number Quantity Describing Spatial Attenuation in Open-Plan Offices

Cited by 14 publications

References 18 publications

Sound masking by a low-pitch speech-shaped noise improves a social robot’s talk in noisy environments

Sound masking by a low-pitch speech-shaped noise improves a social robot’s talk in noisy environments

Designing for Acoustic Satisfaction in Open Plan Offices

Special Issue: Advances in Architectural Acoustics

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