Sound in occupied open-plan offices: Objective metrics with a review of historical perspectives

Yadav, Manuj; Cabrera, Densil; Kim, Jungsoo; Fels, Janina; Dear, Richard de

doi:10.1016/j.apacoust.2021.107943

Cited by 32 publications

(38 citation statements)

References 55 publications

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“…The results in Table 7 add to the previous in-situ measurements in primary schools and daycare centers and introduce some levelbased sound fluctuation parameters previously used in other fields with multi-talker speech environments like open-plan offices (Yadav et al, 2021). For omnidirectional microphones, the mean L A,eq values in CRs and PRs were almost the same (~66 dB), with a relatively wider range of values in the latter.…”

Section: Evaluation Of the Level-based Parameterssupporting

confidence: 66%

“…Firstly, parameters based on A-weighted SPL were computed, including L A,eq and percentiles (L A10 and L A90 ). Secondly, to consider sound fluctuations over time in rooms above the background noise (generally signified using L A90 ), level-based fluctuation parameters typically used in areas with multi-talker speech, for example, open-plan offices (Yadav et al, 2021), were calculated. These included noise climate NCl L A10 − L A90 (Kryter, 2013), noise pollution level NPL L A,eq + (L A10 − L A90 ) (Ayr et al, 2003), and M A,eq L A,eq − L A90 (Lenne et al, 2020).…”

Section: Data Processing and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

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Toward Child-Appropriate Acoustic Measurement Methods in Primary Schools and Daycare Centers

Loh

Yadav

Waye

et al. 2022

Front. Built Environ.

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Children spend a considerable amount of time in educational institutions, where they are constantly exposed to noisy sound environments, which has detrimental effects on children’s health and cognitive development. Extensive room acoustics measurements and long-term in-situ measurements in such institutions are scarce and are generally conducted using omnidirectional microphones. This study provides preliminary results of room acoustics in unoccupied conditions and in-situ noise measurements during occupancy, in classrooms and playrooms in Germany using an omnidirectional microphone, an adult HATS (head and torso simulator), and a child HATS. The results indicate that room acoustics of most of the sampled rooms need improvement (mid-frequency reverberation time, T30 (s) = 0.6 (0.3–1.1) and clarity index, C50 (dB) = 6.1 (1.6–10.4); speech transmission index (STI) = 0.7 (0.6–0.8); mean values and range); the sound pressure level (SPL) during activities was around 66 dB (A-weighted equivalent level SPL) in both classrooms and playrooms using omnidirectional measurements, which is somewhat lower than similar measurements in other countries that varied in measurement periods; psychoacoustics parameters relating to sound fluctuation (fluctuation strength and roughness) show variation with increasing room volumes; and that there may be some benefit in considering child HATS for in-situ noise measurements. While the validity of these results in relation to children’s perceptual evaluation (using questionnaires, etc.) is subject to future investigations, the results highlight some of the nuances in the choice of transducers in measurements with children and potential benefits of psychoacoustic parameters in complementing the SPL-based parameters in more comprehensively characterizing the noise environments in educational institutions.

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Section: Evaluation Of the Level-based Parameterssupporting

confidence: 66%

Section: Data Processing and Analysismentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward Child-Appropriate Acoustic Measurement Methods in Primary Schools and Daycare Centers

Loh

Yadav

Waye

et al. 2022

Front. Built Environ.

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“…This supports the use of a comfort criterion level lower than 48 dB. The mean levels during the workday are usually 48-59 dB L Aeq,8h according to a major survey of offices [27]. This supports also that 48 dB might not be comfortable since it exceeds the average activity noise level.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 58%

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

Hongisto¹,

Keränen²

2021

Applied Sciences

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ISO 3382-3 is globally used to determine the room acoustic conditions of open-plan offices using in situ measurements. The key outcomes of the standard are three single-number quantities: distraction distance, rD, A-weighted sound pressure level of speech, Lp,A,S,4m, and spatial decay rate of speech, D2,S. Quantities Lp,A,S,4m and D2,S describe the attenuation properties of the office due to room and furniture absorption and geometry. Our purpose is to introduce a new single-number quantity, comfort distance rC, which integrates the quantities Lp,A,S,4m and D2,S. It describes the distance from an omnidirectional loudspeaker where the A-weighted sound pressure level of normal speech falls below 45 dB. The study explains why the comfort criterion level is set to 45 dB, explores the comfort distances in 185 offices reported in previous studies. Based on published data, the rC values lie typically within 3 m (strong attenuation) and 30 m (weak attenuation). Based on this data, a classification scheme was proposed. The new quantity could benefit the revised version of ISO 3382-3.

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“…), along with multi-talker speech from neighboring and far-away workstations, etc. [3] interacting with the room acoustics in a complex manner [17]. To characterize such complex acoustic conditions in laboratory, arguably an appropriate level of sophistication in the simulation is needed, which is addressed in the following, starting with a more elaborate description of the ISE.…”

Section: A Considerations For Irrelevant Sound Presentation In Ise St...mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Open-plan offices (OPOs) are notorious for the detrimental effect of their acoustic environments on occupants' activities [1][2][3]. Many such activities including proofreading, writing, etc.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognitive performance in open-plan office acoustic simulations: Effects of room acoustics and semantics but not spatial separation of sound sources

Yadav,

Georgi,

Leist

et al. 2023

Applied Acoustics

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Sound in occupied open-plan offices: Objective metrics with a review of historical perspectives

Cited by 32 publications

References 55 publications

Toward Child-Appropriate Acoustic Measurement Methods in Primary Schools and Daycare Centers

Toward Child-Appropriate Acoustic Measurement Methods in Primary Schools and Daycare Centers

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

Cognitive performance in open-plan office acoustic simulations: Effects of room acoustics and semantics but not spatial separation of sound sources

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