Work performance in private office rooms: The effects of sound insulation and sound masking

Hongisto, Valtteri; Varjo, Johanna; Leppämäki, Henri; Oliva, David; Hyönä, Jukka

doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2016.04.022

Cited by 38 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…The effects are not related to the sound pressure level ( SPL ) of speech but to the speech intelligibility (Colle, 1980; Ellermeier and Hellbrück, 1998; Hongisto, 2005; Schlittmeier et al, 2008; Hongisto et al, 2016b). Therefore, the room acoustic design of open-plan offices should aim at reducing intelligibility of speech beyond the distance where normal conversations are carried out (Hongisto et al, 2004; Virjonen et al, 2009; Keränen and Hongisto, 2013).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perception of Water-Based Masking Sounds—Long-Term Experiment in an Open-Plan Office

et al. 2017

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A certain level of masking sound is necessary to control the disturbance caused by speech sounds in open-plan offices. The sound is usually provided with evenly distributed loudspeakers. Pseudo-random noise is often used as a source of artificial sound masking (PRMS). A recent laboratory experiment suggested that water-based masking sound (WBMS) could be more favorable than PRMS. The purpose of our study was to determine how the employees perceived different WBMSs compared to PRMS. The experiment was conducted in an open-plan office of 77 employees who had been accustomed to work under PRMS (44 dB LAeq). The experiment consisted of five masking conditions: the original PRMS, four different WBMSs and return to the original PRMS. The exposure time of each condition was 3 weeks. The noise level was nearly equal between the conditions (43–45 dB LAeq) but the spectra and the nature of the sounds were very different. A questionnaire was completed at the end of each condition. Acoustic satisfaction was worse during the WBMSs than during the PRMS. The disturbance caused by three out of four WBMSs was larger than that of PRMS. Several attributes describing the sound quality itself were in favor of PRMS. Colleagues' speech sounds disturbed more during WBMSs. None of the WBMSs produced better subjective ratings than PRMS. Although the first WBMS was equal with the PRMS for several variables, the overall results cannot be seen to support the use of WBMSs in office workplaces. Because the experiment suffered from some methodological weaknesses, conclusions about the adequacy of WBMSs cannot yet be drawn.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perception of Water-Based Masking Sounds—Long-Term Experiment in an Open-Plan Office

et al. 2017

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“…Hongisto et al 18 where the SPL of the reference condition STI 0.00 (42 dB L Aeq ) was 7-9 dB higher than the SPL of two of the conditions where STI > 0.00.…”

Section: F I G U R Ementioning

confidence: 95%

“…The number of multidisciplinary laboratory experiments addressing the STI-performance relation has since grown considerably. Studies have been conducted on, for example, the general STI-performance relation, 18,56,57 task-specific effects, 20,43 different types of masking sounds, 58,59 and differences between the STI and other acoustic parameters predicting performance. 60,61 As the number of studies is now considerably larger than the empirical basis of the original model, this literature can, and should, be used to evaluate and revise the model of Hongisto.…”

Section: F I G U R Ementioning

confidence: 99%

“…It is already known that certain room acoustic quantities of the ISO 3382-3 standard, 15 which describes a measurement method for room acoustic quality of open-plan offices, are associated with perceived acoustic problems. 11 Importantly, the detrimental effects of speech on cognitive performance [16][17][18][19] and annoyance 20 are not caused by the sound pressure level (SPL) of speech but by speech intelligibility. That is, the negative effects of speech increase with a growing proportion of speech-like temporal-spectral variation that enable the segmentation of speech.…”

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The relation between the intelligibility of irrelevant speech and cognitive performance—A revised model based on laboratory studies

2020

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Dissatisfaction with acoustic conditions is a common problem in open-plan offices, as documented by numerous researchers over several decades. 1-6 Similar problems are also encountered nowadays in activity-based offices, albeit to a lesser extent. 7-9 Of the different noise sources in open-plan offices, speech is the main source of noise annoyance, 3,5,10 correlating highly with the general perception of disturbing noise. 11 The acoustic problems are not restricted to subjective discomfort but have more direct implications for the productivity of workers. Background speech that is irrelevant to the listener (later in the text: speech) is known to objectively decrease human performance in several areas of information processing, including particularly verbal short-term memory, 12 but also more complex tasks, such as writing 13 and proofreading. 14 Thus, the noise control

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“…O controle do ruído de fundo e do tempo de reverberação (TR) de salas pode beneficiar a qualidade acústica e a inteligibilidade da fala de um ambiente. O isolamento acústico de escritórios privados (uma pessoa por sala), escritórios de plano aberto (mais de cinco pessoas por sala) e de escritórios compartilhados (duas ou mais pessoas por sala) cumpre um rol essencial no desenvolvimento das atividades laborais, na privacidade da fala e na tranquilidade no trabalho (KAARLELA-TUOMAALA et al, 2009;LEE, 2010;HONGISTO et al, 2016). O estudo do conforto acústico em escritórios panorâmicos de Passero e Zannin (2009) revelou que os valores do NPS variaram de 64,9 a 67,2 dB(A), principalmente nas bandas de frequência de oitava de 500 a 2.000 Hz (frequências típicas da fala humana).…”

Section: Referencial Teóricounclassified

Conforto acústico de escritórios em ambiente industrial de usina hidrelétrica

Martins

Vergara

2019

PARC Pesq. em Arquit. e Constr.

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A clareza na comunicação, o conforto e a concentração da atenção são fundamentais no desempenho e produtividade dos profissionais que utilizam escritórios em ambientes industriais. A avaliação do conforto acústico nesses escritórios deve considerar a medição de níveis de pressão sonora (NPS), de tempos de reverberação (TR), bem como a quantificação do ruído de fundo e da inteligibilidade da fala. A presente pesquisa teve como objetivo avaliar o conforto acústico de ambientes de escritórios situados na casa de força de uma usina hidrelétrica. Para tanto, a investigação baseou-se na avaliação da interferência do ruído de fundo e do TR na inteligibilidade da fala em seis ambientes de três escritórios, a partir de medições de NPS, da quantificação e análise das curvas critério de ruído NC e RC Mark II, e do Índice de Transmissão da Fala (STI). Os seis ambientes internos também foram avaliados pelo cálculo do TR de Sabine e Eyring. Todos os ambientes não atenderam ao critério de conforto da curva NC 40, apresentando espectros desbalanceados entre 125 e 500 Hz e vibrações perceptíveis nas baixas frequências (16 ou 31,5 Hz) que superaram os 75 dB. Quatro ambientes atenderam aos valores de TR recomendados, mantendo-se entre 0,3 e 0,5 segundo. O STI foi classificado entre ruim e razoável, variando entre 0,2 e 0,5. Conclui-se que ambientes industriais como casas de força de usinas hidrelétricas semelhante as estudadas não favorecem a instalação de escritórios sem interferência no conforto acústico e na comunicação oral dos usuários, sendo necessário um projeto adequado para utilização prolongada em trabalhos intelectuais.

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Work performance in private office rooms: The effects of sound insulation and sound masking

Cited by 38 publications

References 26 publications

Perception of Water-Based Masking Sounds—Long-Term Experiment in an Open-Plan Office

Perception of Water-Based Masking Sounds—Long-Term Experiment in an Open-Plan Office

The relation between the intelligibility of irrelevant speech and cognitive performance—A revised model based on laboratory studies

Conforto acústico de escritórios em ambiente industrial de usina hidrelétrica

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