A Canadian guide defines best practice in sustainable, public financed office buildings. In section 2.9.1, named “Flanking and Isolation”, performance criteria and methods are addressed: (…) The integrity of acoustical partitioning can be maintained by: * Extending partitions above the suspended ceiling; * Eliminating holes for ducts, pipes, conduits, cables etc.; * Providing appropriate acoustical […]
Offices
“Create Sound Policies”
Reported live from Ecophon 5th International Acousticians’ Seminar Marc Janssen of Ecophon (abstract) urged the participants to start working with Sound Policies. “We have to put requirements on paper. Standards help a lot. Use them to create sound policies, a tool to maintain or guarantee the quality of a workplace concept. It can among other […]
New French standard on office acoustics
NF S31- 080, Acoustics – Offices and associated areas – Acoustic performance levels and criteria by type of area, published January 2006, is the first French standard on office acoustics. It is designed as a reference document for clients to express their requirements, as well as a guide-line for office designers. Description Nine room types […]
Call centre room acoustics
Call centres are acoustically challenging environments. Australian/New Zealand Standard AS/NZS 2107:2000 “Recommended design sound levels and reverberation times for building interiors” addresses call centres. Recommended sound pressure level value in use (LAeq) Satisfactory = 40 dB(A), Maximum = 45 dB(A) Comments: my experience of call centres is that they belong to the category of spaces […]
Speech can be a source of disturbance at work
The new Swedish Work Environment Authority’s Statute Book on Noise (AFS Buller, 2005:16) has recently been published, and will be valid starting 1st July 2005. The Statute Book aims at supporting the new EU legislation on noise exposure of workers (2003/10/EG). One of the main new items is that disturbing speech from others can be […]
