Office acoustics refer to how sound behaves in an office space. Unlike traditional offices with enclosed rooms, in open office plans, sound travels freely and reverberates throughout the space, creating a noisy environment that can be distracting and stressful for employees. Good acoustics manage sound to reduce noise distractions and enhance speech clarity.

TYPES OF OFFICE SOUND ISSUES

Understanding the different types of sound is essential to effectively treating offices with acoustical issues. There are two primary forms of sound issues to understand: direct sound and reflected sound.

Reflected Sound

Reflected sound is any sound that bounces off hard surfaces like walls, ceilings, floors, and desks and continues to reverberate throughout the office, creating echoes. Reflected sound is one of the biggest culprits for creating a chaotic working environment.

Background Noise and Other Direct Sound

Direct sound is any sound that travels directly from the source to the listener before reflecting off surfaces, like conversations, loud printers, phone calls, or audio coming from your computer. If this is an issue for you, you may consider building a private office for important calls and meetings or keeping the printer in another room.

If you have distracting background noise coming from a warehouse, a manufacturing facility, or outside, that's a soundproofing issue. For help with that, use our guide full of office soundproofing solutions.

WHY DO GOOD OFFICE ACOUSTICS MATTER?

Offices with good acoustics are able to benefit from decluttered sound. Allow me to explain. Reflective surfaces cause sound to continue reverberating throughout the office, diminishing speech clarity and increasing misunderstandings. By reducing reflected sound, employees can understand one another better, facilitating better collaboration through clear, effective communication.

Reflected sound is also very distracting. If you’ve ever been in a space with horrible echo, believe me, you can’t help but notice! Studies have shown that better acoustics can lead to enhanced concentration and higher productivity by reducing distractions and stress, and it leads to improved job satisfaction.

There are different things you can do to improve your office acoustics situation. Using acoustic materials to reduce echo and reverb is the most effective thing you can do. Beyond that, there are some small tweaks you can make to office policies or even do make some rearrangements to help you reach your desired office environment.

ACOUSTICAL SOLUTIONS

When it comes to putting a stop to those annoying reflected sounds, there is nothing better than adding absorption into your office! Here are our helpful tricks and tips to effectively absorb echoes and reduce reverberation! Call us for an acoustical analysis from one of our acoustical engineers!

Acoustical Solution #1: Acoustic Materials on the Walls

Adding acoustic panels to the walls of your office is about as straight forward as it gets. We have tons of acoustic panels to choose from. Whether you want to give your office a warm wood look with our Timberwool™ wood fiber acoustic panels or you want to decorate your office with PolyZorbe™ polyester acoustic panels (also in vibrant color options), you’ll be glad you did.

Cover any major points of reflection first and add more panels as needed. Combining a wall treatment with one of these other treatments can achieve even better results.

Acoustical Solution #2: Acoustic Materials on the Ceiling

Second Skin has all the acoustic ceiling treatment options you could need to reduce noise levels and meet your design and acoustic goals. Whether that means upgrading standard ceiling tiles to a nice wood acoustic ceiling tiles like Timberwool™ or hanging baffles or colorful clouds for an acoustic treatment that doubles as a fun design aesthetic, Second Skin has it all!

Acoustical Solution #3: Hidden Absorption Inside Hollow Cubicles & Under Workstations

Utilize the spaces within cubicles and under workstations to discreetly place sound-absorbing materials. You can use our most cost-effective acoustic material for the job without worrying about appearance. This is extremely helpful in call centers and anywhere there is lots of talking.

Treating cubicles and workstations can also reduce perceived loudness, as employees will hear less reflected sound. This often inadvertently causes them to speak more quietly, which in turn lowers the overall noise level in the office. This is the opposite of the "Lombard effect" seen in noisy restaurants, where people speak louder to be heard over the background noise.

Check out our article for other cubicle noise reduction solutions!

OTHER TIPS

There are a few other things you can do in addition to adding absorption that can help.

Tip #1: Intentional Organization of Team Members

Knowing your team means you can better understand how to balance your space. If you have team members who project loudly or are very social in nature, consider situating them away from anyone who might have a more difficult time focusing.

Tip #2: Quiet Zones, Partitioned Spaces, and Meeting Places

You can also implement “quiet zones” or put up wall partitions for those who need distraction-free spaces to work. If you can help it, it’s best to keep break rooms separate from the main open office. Additionally, we recommend having a set place for meetings and collaborations, so it doesn’t distract those not involved. If you're partitioning offices, we can tell you the best room shape for acoustics so you don't end up creating a hard-to-tame beast of a room.

If your conference room gets too loud, read our guide to learn how to quiet meeting spaces!

Tip #3: Carpets

Low-pile carpet, while not everyone’s favorite flooring option, will be slightly less reflective than wood or tile. This won't revolutionize the acoustics in your office, though.

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