Why acoustics matter

Many businesses are willing to invest in the appearance of their workplace but neglect the soundscape. We look at how acoustics affect individuals and their productivity levels and how the industry is treating this element with innovative solutions

Phones ringing, electronic equipment humming, chairs scraping, the pinging of an elevator, the laughter of colleagues gathered around the water cooler, the conversations of neighbours overheard loud and clear: such distractions in the workplace are so irksome that acoustics consistently rank as the foremost complaint on employee surveys, with poorly designed open offices largely to blame.

Importance of addressing acoustical performance

“Noise is the single-most deteriorating factor impacting employee productivity in offices across the nation. Research indicates that noise pollution in offices is one of the main reasons that contribute to poor workplace productivity. Performing knowledge-based tasks – be it in a lawyer’s office, a tech company or research sector, etc – working in a densely occupied office space gets very difficult and can drastically hamper productivity. Nowadays, modern workspaces, such as co-working facilities, are increasingly adopting the more contemporary open-plan office design, providing a sleek and neat look to the interiors with minimal consideration given to materials used for acoustical balance. Many of these facilities render very bad acoustical performance. Sound is one invisible factor, which is not being considered by designers because they don’t understand it as much,” explains Naresh Duble, Knauf Ceiling Solutions.

More than half of office workers are dissatisfied with the level of “speech privacy” leading to disruption in their work. The research also indicated that almost 62% of office workers face difficulty in finding space for focused work.”