ACOUSTIC COMFORT

REPORTED BY:
PORLAY, MARETSHAM
BSA-4A

INTRODUCTION
The acoustical environment of a workspace is typically
given little or no attention during project planning and
design.
FUNCTIONALITY

AESTHETICS

Providing a comfortable environment for employees contributes

significantly to their optimum performance and reduced absence.
WORKSPACE COMFORT
a combination of factors that includes daylighting & electrical
lighting, indoor environmental quality, temperature, and acoustics.
The attack on our ears in the workplace came from traffic noise,
mechanical equipment in adjacent spaces, and copiers, phones, and
voices within the workspace.

BUILDING ACOUSTICS is given low priority because it competes for

limited project with a number of other project goals, including:
sustainable design/development,
physical security/anti-terrorism,
information technology/telecommunications, and
building automation and controls.
Several common noise problems affect these occupancies:

Too much noise outside the building entering the space

Too much noise from adjacent spaces, and
Lack of sound control in the space itself.

SITE SELECTION
A satisfactory indoor acoustical environment actually
starts by knowing what is going on outdoors.
Follow these guidelines when selecting a site for an office
building or educational facility:
Avoid sites in high noise areasairfields, highways, factories, and
railways.
Ensure compatibility with existing facilitiesdo not site a school
in an industrial area, for example.

Traffic and aircraft

noise affect the
quality of the interior
listening
environment.

Determine what else is planned for the site in the future. Your building may be
the first one built, but if future buildings are acoustically incompatible with
yours, significant remediation measures may be necessary to return the interior
sound environment to an acceptable level.

When the site is predetermined and is too noisy for an office building or
educational facility:
incorporate appropriate sound control measures
avoid through-the-wall, package terminal air conditioners
orient quiet spaces away from outside noise sources.

To protect the spaces in a building from noise from a nearby

highway or railway, lay out the building so that restrooms,
mechanical and electrical equipment rooms, and other less
noise-sensitive spaces are adjacent to the roadway
In designing a campus near high noise activity, locate
gymnasiums and other less noise-sensitive facilities closer to the
noise source and place buildings needing quiet surroundings in
the shadow of those facilities.

GLAZING
Windows and glazing are key elements of the building envelope.
It allow daylight to enter the space, reject heat and glare, control sound
and, for some projects, and explosion resistant.
Multiple glazing types are for many projects based on the building
orientation, proximity of disturbing noise sources, and defenselessness
assessments and risk analysis.

A. OPEN OFFICE ENVIRONMENTS

Open office environments provide greater flexibility than enclosed offices
by using easy to relocate low-height, moveable partitions or systems
furniture to form individual workspaces, rather than employing full-height
permanent partitions.
These factors have led to an increased use of open office
environments in both the federal and private sectors.
Acoustical problems have surfaced in open office environments causing
employees distraction, stress, and interference with telephone
conversation and normal work routine.
Over 60 percent of occupants in cubicles think acoustics interfere
with their ability to get their job done.

Common
complaints
included:
acoustics (too
noisy, not
enough
privacy),
thermal comfort
(limited
temperature
control), and
daylighting (too
much glare and
light spill).

Contributors to unacceptable noise in the workspace include indiscriminate

use of speakerphones, low partition heights, ringing phones, noisy copy
machines, and office chatter.
Solutions:
Specify acoustical ceilings with noise reduction coefficient (NRC)
of 0.75.
Choose systems furniture with a 60 inch minimum height and have
sound absorbing surfaces on both sides.
Avoid placing lighting fixtures directly over partitions - they reflect
sound to the adjacent cubicle.
Locate copy machines in separate rooms away from offices and
provide separate ventilation to minimize ozone in the workspace.
The ideal office environment would give workers individual control of
temperature, lighting, and acoustics in their personal workspace.

B. CONFERENCE ROOMS AND PRIVATE OFFICES

Most workplace environments should have quiet havensplaces
where private conversations can occur without being heard in
adjacent rooms or passageways for employee matters, contract
negotiations, classified discussions, etc.
Some problems that occur in private offices:
inability to have private discussions
can hear sounds through partitions
too noisy in room
can hear sounds from air return registers

Sound can travel over partition walls and through the suspended
acoustical ceiling. To be an effective sound barrier between rooms,
partitions need to extend to the structural deck.

Solutions:
Extend walls from floor to structural deck above.
Insulate partition cavity/increase partition sound transmission class (STC).
Specify NRC of 0.75 for ceiling tiles.
Employ ducted air return system.
Do not locate mechanical equipment rooms next to offices and conference
rooms.

STC (Sound Transmission Class) ratings are used to describe the

performance of assemblies in reducing airborne sound.
While higher than current Code requirements, the STC ratings presented in
the chart below will provide enhanced building comfort.

C. CLASSROOMS
Classrooms are environments designated for learning, not just for
school-age children, but for adult training as well. Classrooms have
become multimedia communications environments,
Good acoustics for learning support easy verbal communication, which
requires low noise levels and very little reverberation. In the past,
classrooms may have been constructed without adequate consideration of
sound acoustical principles. Sources of noise hampering students'
concentration include:

outside of the school (vehicular traffic and aircraft flyover)

the hallways (foot traffic and conversation)
other classrooms (amplified sound systems and inadequate
partition sound transmission loss)
mechanical equipment (compressors, boilers, and ventilation
systems), and
inside the classroom itself (reverberation).

APPLICATION
1. Daylighted
classrooms
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

offices

HVAC noise issues

Natural ventilation
Sound masking
Sustainability and acoustics
Fire safety

and

EMERGING ISSUES
Directional sound is a new technology in fire safety. It is an audible
means to lead people to safety. The varying tones and intensities
coming from directional sound devices offer easy-to-understand
cues for finding the ways out. Advantages of directional sounders:
can lead people of all languages to exit
audible clues can direct people with visual impairments
especially helpful in smoke-filled environments
upward or downward sweeping tones alert occupants to
go up or down stairways to exit building.

THE END