How to prevent bad acoustics from ruining good working environments

Part 2 – The all-essential A (absorb – capture reflected sound), B (block – stop sound travelling) and C (cover – mask unwanted sound) of interior acoustics.

Part 2

The office layout of old is most probably dead as we see the rise of open-plan and innovative work spaces showcased daily in architecture blogs and articles. But are these A&D experts designing with both their eyes and their ears?

Unfortunately, a lot of today’s workspace environments are manifesting many disturbing problems; from noise disruptions, lack of speech privacy and increased stress levels, to lack of concentration, lower productivity and confidentiality breaches.

Investing in good acoustics increases staff productivity, showing a viable return on investment in a fairly short period of time.

If you visited Neocon this year, you will have noticed that the buzz word was acoustics. There was a huge increase in design and production of acoustical pieces, such as quiet booths, wrap around chairs and sound absorbing materials. These are all great, but if you do not understand how acoustics work furniture alone will not help you rectify the problems.

The all-essential A, B and C of interior acoustic solutions

The best way to achieve a properly managed acoustic environment is through a carefully balanced combination of absorption, blocking and cover techniques. We call it the ABC of acoustics and it forms the basis of our successful approach.

Following our earlier blog “Part 1, Why acoustic issues in the working environment are so important”, we explain why and how to achieve a balanced and comfortable work space.

• Assess the situation and categorise the noise problem into one of three areas: lack of speech privacy, noise and concentration or a combination of the two

• Analyse how the work space is used

• Then specify suitable materials to help with the resulting issues

A – absorb (capture reflected sound)

The use of products to absorb the sound energy that hits them and reduce unwanted, reflected sound energy from hard surfaces such as glass and concrete.

B – block (stop sound travelling)

The introduction of vertical barriers between the noise source and listener that blocks sound travelling from one to the other. The higher the barrier, the more effective the results.

C – cover (mask unwanted noise)

We use the award-winning LogiSon sound masking system, to reduce distractions and achieve privacy by distributing a comfortable, engineered background sound throughout the workplace. A computer generated random sound covers or masks unwanted noise creating a sound with a pitch high enough to mask unwanted noises and low enough for comfort. It works because the human ear cannot distinguish sounds of similar volume and frequency. As the only UK dealer of this product, we stand by this easy to install and cost-effective solution.

Contact us today for further information and to see how we can turn your work place into a healthy, happy and productive working environment.

+44 (0) 1273 589922