10 tips for better office acoustics

Noise in the office is often a huge distraction. As a result, at the end of the working day, you feel like you haven't achieved what you intended. That's frustrating! The constant conversations from the sales department, the sound of the phone ringing constantly, or the printer rattling. Noise and (bad) acoustics in the workplace are often the cause of less productive and less successful employees. It can also cause physical discomfort, stress and motivation problems.

Good office acoustics solves this and makes for happy, productive and happy employees. We've listed 10 tips for better office acoustics!

How does sound work?

If you want to improve acoustics, it's important to understand where sound comes from and how it travels in a room. This provides insight into how to control unwanted noise and office acoustics. When a sound is made, it propagates from the source in all directions and radiates outwards until it encounters a boundary element. Office noise comes in the following guises:

Direct sound
This means that the sound hasn't reacted to the environment before it reaches your ears.

Reflective sound
We hear reflective sound when the sound comes into contact with a surface that reflects the sound. This reflected sound can be very annoying in combination with the direct sound. This is because it causes the brain to work harder to decode the two similar sounds to locate the source (so people can determine which direction the sound comes from). This “mental conflict” contributes to tiredness and loss of concentration.

Reverb
This is how long it takes for sound energy to disappear in a room until it is no longer audible. Your brain can deal with unique sources of reverb because it helps us determine how big a space is. But when your brain tries to unravel multiple reverb signals at the same time, it can have trouble creating a clear sound image of the environment. And that, again, causes fatigue and loss of concentration.

Absorption or reflection
When a sound wave reaches a surface, it is absorbed or reflected. An example of an absorbent material is carpet or curtains, for example. Sounds are reflected from hard surfaces such as windows, desks and hard floors. The reflected sound wave will continue to travel until it reflects off another surface.

Control the sound in your office

The sound you hear in a room is an accumulation of direct sound and all the sound waves that are reflected from different surfaces. So it's important to investigate: how many hard surfaces are there in your office? Of course, it's impossible to remove all the hard surfaces from your office. However, there are good strategies you can use to control the noise in your office.

We've compiled a top ten of good ways to control office acoustics and minimize unwanted noise.

1. Office layout based on team type

Different teams work in different ways. For example, the marketing team benefits greatly from regular communication and collaboration, while, for example, the administration works in a more focused and individual way. This way, you can organize the teams based on the nature of their daily lives. operations and adjust your office design accordingly by putting the same type of teams near each other.

2. Dedicated meeting rooms/quiet areas.

Good office design has facilities for when it is necessary to hold meetings in a private environment. Special meeting rooms or protected areas in the room are essential here. For example, you can use room dividers to do this. These effective partitions are mobile and modular. For a closed meeting room, you can also use cubicals or bell cells. These are enclosed spaces that are equipped with optimal acoustics. Available in various sizes and easy to install without major renovations.

3. Separate areas for lunch breaks

It may sometimes be necessary to have lunch and take breaks at your desk. However, this can lead to unwanted noise and conversations, with a negative impact on the productivity of the rest of the department. To prevent this, we recommend encouraging your employees to take breaks in separate areas, not from behind the desk.

4. Plants

In addition to having an aesthetic appeal, plants also do useful work in absorbing sound. Consider introducing some greenery into your office to make your team feel relaxed. Every little bit (and plants) helps!

5. Acoustic treatment of ceilings

Ceilings form a large part of the office space and are therefore often a good place to make acoustic adjustments. The addition of acoustic material on the ceilings directly above noisy areas significantly improves acoustics.

6. Insulated spaces for noisy equipment

Machine and server rooms are an inevitable part of most companies. The devices in it are large and produce sound that will simply travel through the plaster walls of your office. To prevent noise from entering the office space, you can provide these spaces with acoustic insulation. If you do not have a separate room, it is advisable anyway to acoustic panels to be placed around the source of the sound

7. Sound-absorbing materials.

Hard surfaces are not good at absorbing noise. Where possible, opt for gentler solutions to control unwanted noise. In addition, strategically placed help acoustic panels to mute unwanted noise. Akoesta can advise you on the strategic placement of acoustic panels to prevent reverberation, both on walls, in space, on furniture and ceilings. There are even solutions for lighting with acoustic value!

8. Acoustic panels on desks

Desks account for approximately 40% of the flat surfaces in an office and you can use this space to your advantage by installing acoustic desk panels and other acoustic solutions for the workplace.

9. Play ambient sound

Research shows that noise itself is not disturbing. Unwanted noise is the cause of the distracted and unproductive environment that can affect your staff. By playing ambient sound at a low level, it can mask unwanted noise, making conversations for listeners who aren't meant to hear them unintelligible and therefore much easier to ignore.

10. Partitions with acoustic absorption

Partitions should not only be used to separate rooms or hide noisy equipment. Choose a partition that offers a form of acoustic absorption.

Get to know Akoesta's effective approach
We are convinced that the work environment contributes significantly to the health, productivity and happiness of employees. Happy spaces make for happy faces. That's why we're happy to advise you how the right acoustic solution can transform your office into a place where employees, business contacts and, of course, you can stay acoustically comfortable.

Every situation and space is different and requires a specific approach. The effective Akoesta's approach covers all aspects of acoustics such as acoustic measurements, acoustic advice, 3D visualizations and editing. Akoesta creates customized acoustic solutions and has a wide range of acoustic products for work environments.

Want to know more?
Do you also want to create a comfortable work environment by improving acoustics? Let us know. Or check out all our acoustic solutions customized.

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