Acoustic Comfort in Buildings: Healthy Building Interior Acoustics — Wellness Design Consultants
Risks of Structure Borne Noise in Buildings & Interiors
Risks of Structure Borne Noise in Buildings & Interiors
Human exposure to unfavorable noises and improperly regulated acoustics has been found to cause negative health and wellness impacts.
Factors such as a lack of acoustical privacy, speech intelligibility, and audio distractions can all impact occupant comfort, leading to acoustic discomfort. Excessive noise can lead to irritation, disturbed sleep, and long-term health issues such as cardiovascular disease and psychological problems. These issues can stem from both interior and external noise sources.
Acoustic comfort in healthy buildings
As such, acoustics and a well-designed sound environment are important considerations in healthy buildings, healthy indoor environments, and workplace wellness plans.
While every space is different, the primary risks of poor acoustics are diminished attention, productivity (due to inability to concentrate for long periods), and memory retention.
Those apply most directly to a learning or work environment while in a residential context there is also the risk of negatively impacting sleep quality.
Causes of Acoustic Discomfort in Buildings & Interiors
Design oversights such as loud HVAC equipment, improperly insulated spaces, and airborne noise can all contribute to poor acoustic comfort. The sound pressure level of these noises can significantly impact the acoustic comfort of a space. Structure borne noise, such as vibrations from pipe-related noise, can also contribute to acoustical discomfort. A general lack of acoustical privacy in zones that require deep work, or the dominance of hard interior surfaces that cause sound to literally bounce around an interior, can further exacerbate the issue.
Acoustical solutions in healthy buildings
To combat these issues, strategies such as planned and isolated HVAC systems, noise barriers, and the inclusion of suitably sound absorbing acoustic materials can all be relevant. Effective sound control measures are essential to ensure the wellbeing, comfort, and productivity of building occupants. With due attention paid upfront to an interior’s acoustics and sound insulation, as healthy building consultants we can help ensure the wellbeing, comfort, and productivity of building occupants once the fit-out is complete.
For details of healthy co-working offices specifically, see here.
Challenges of Sound Absorption in Open Plan Floor Plans
A recent shift to open-plan office layouts was intended to promote greater connectivity and interaction. The results have, most would agree, been mixed at best.
One of the primarily drawbacks by stripping back partitions from an office environment has been a corresponding rise in acoustical issues, noise problems, distractions and low level anxiety. Sound waves like nothing more than to bounce around a large space until they hit some kind of a sound barrier. In addition to internal noise sources, traffic noise can also contribute to acoustic discomfort in open-plan layouts.
If offices and learning spaces want to facilitate the highest levels of occupant productivity and focus, open-plan layouts require, upfront, an acoustics plan to compensate these issues.
Reducing sources of noise in advance, introducing a range of strategically positioned sound absorbing materials, offering spaces with complete acoustical privacy for certain tasks (such as sound booths - see photo above), and possibly introducing thoughtful background noise can, collectively, help to ensure a productive work or study environment.
Sources of Noise Distractions in Buildings & Interiors
Both indoor and outdoor noises can affect the quality of interior acoustics. However, interior noise sources can of course be more easily regulated within a design plan as an engineer, architect or facilities management has some sway over their location and operation.
For example, sound can emanate from sources such as HVAC systems, voices, footfall and occupants moving through a space (think of two female colleagues chatting animatedly while wearing heels, walking down a corridor with hardwood flooring), as well as from other mechanical equipment and electronics such as computers.
Impacts of Acoustic Distractions in Building Interiors
If not properly managed, sound can cause surprising effects on worker productivity, focus, motivation, and stress (Acoustics). One study showed that on average, workers lose eighty-six minutes of work a day due to noise-based distractions (Franklin).
In addition, it has been found that after an acoustic distraction, it can take around twenty-five minutes for someone to return to their task, and an additional eight to reach the original level of focus (Ecophon).
With sound in mind, research shows that a positive acoustic environment can reduce adrenaline by 30%, increase concentration performance by up to 50%, and improve motivation by 66% (Ecophon).
With impacts such as these, acoustic design should be a priority for businesses, creating comfortable, healthy spaces that increase worker productivity, focus and wellness.
Implementing Healthy Building Acoustic Strategies
Now that the problems associated with inadequate acoustic design are clear, what can we do to alleviate these impacts and promote healthy working environments? Proper planning, the inclusion of sound absorbing materials and dividers, as well as soundscapes are all beneficial strategies that can improve acoustic quality. Here we address each of these three in turn.
Acoustics Planning in a Healthy Building Strategy
The size and type of a space, demographics of people in that space, and the type of activities that will occur in that space all affect its acoustic priorities. It is important to first identify the potential sources of noise such as machinery and HVAC systems, both of which could affect interior noise levels.
When possible, the location and insolation requirements of these spaces should be considered early on to avoid unnecessary leaching of excess noise into workspaces.
In addition, in larger multi-use spaces, it is likely that different acoustical zones are required—such as louder common spaces for social activity and casual meetings, as well as quiet more private spaces for more focused work or study.
Although each space is different, there are strategies that can be commonly applied for all healthy indoor environments—with this type of acoustics planning being the first and most important strategy, acting as a guide for all other potential interventions.
Sound Absorbing Materials in Healthy Indoor Environments
When possible, sound absorbing materials should be implemented into the design strategy to reduce noise transmission. Use of acoustic sound absorbing materials on the floors, walls, ceilings, and desks or dividers in an office or study space are all options to reduce reverberation and increase comfort.
Suspended acoustical ceiling panels are often an effective starting point as they provide considerable sound absorption over the whole sound frequency spectrum. In addition, dividing walls and screens can be added to any space to provide privacy and extra sound absorption. There are then acoustic flooring underlay options as well as acoustic paints, wallpapers and decorative wall panels.
Different spaces require different responses clearly. So for example, in a place such as a restaurant or bar, you may want increased privacy between tables, intelligibility between tables a negative, while in a large boardroom or auditorium we absolutely want to facilitate speech from one end of the room to another.
Soundscapes in Wellbeing Interiors
The use of active acoustic treatments and what is known as ‘sound masking’ can be used to encourage consistent noise levels and increase sound privacy, decreasing acoustical distractions within a space by layering on top a variety of subtle sound interventions.
Such sounds can be interspersed throughout a space via speakers almost imperceptibly if needed. In one study, it was found that the installation of an active acoustical system decreased wasted time by 55%, providing huge potential to improve workspace performance (Browning).
Although background noise can be created in a variety of ways nature sounds to do so may provide additional benefits. Leveraging the concept of biophilia, nature sounds can provide a connection to the outside world. Specifically, it has been found that water sounds are especially effective at improving cognitive performance and creativity through sound masking (Browning).Sources
“Acoustics in Open Office Situations .” Ceilings & Interior Systems Construction Association, Jan. 2016.
Browning, William, and Dakota Walker. “AN EAR FOR NATURE: PSYCHOACOUSTIC STRATEGIES FOR WORKPLACE DISTRACTIONS & THE BOTTOM LINE.” Terrapin Bright Green, Terrapin Bright Green, 2018.
“Ecophon Office Guide: Welcome to the Sound of Nature.” Ecophon.
Franklin, Sydney. “Quiet, Please: How to Design Acoustics for an Open Plan Office - Architizer Journal.” Journal, 4 Nov. 2021, https://architizer.com/blog/practice/details/acoustics-open-office-plan/.
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