Task-irrelevant speech is among the most common and disruptive sources of noise in modern office environments. For acousticians, the challenge has long been: how do we objectively assess the distraction caused by such fluctuating, speech-dominated environments using tools readily available in the field? A new study by Hongisto et al. (2025) offers a solution. It […]
speech noise
Empirical Method for Predicting Speech Sound Propagation in Offices
ISO 3382-3 describes how to assess sound propagation and speech intelligibility in open-plan offices. At the recent Inter-Noise conference in Nantes, Rainer Machner presented Hongisto and Keränen’s (2013) regression-based model for predicting ISO 3382-3 parameters. By analyzing data from 10 office spaces, he evaluated the model’s performance and gave practical recommendations for its use in […]
