sound wellness biophilic soundscapes with brian d’souza

soundscapes / sound wellness / acoustic comfort / biophilic sounds

Welcome to episode 49 of the Green & Healthy Places podcast in which we discuss the themes of wellbeing, sustainability and social impact in real estate today.

In this episode I’m in London talking to Brian D’Souza, a.k.a DJ Auntie Flo, founder of Open Ear Music and Swell sound wellness.

We discuss sound therapy’s mental health benefits, how music can be a window into our soul, urban noise levels and the role of nature sounds or ‘biophilic sounds’ in restoring a sense of calm amidst the chaos, how he creates sonic identities for hotels, restaurants and gyms, deep or active listening vs passive, and how to re-create the sonic experience of forest bathing.

Brian is erudite, dynamic and just the kind of guy you want on your team for a musical adventure one Saturday night I suspect.

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Sound wellness conversation highlights

Sound therapy was for me an exercise in trying to discover the inner workings of a soul.

Sound therapy is triggering different emotions, brainwaves and elements of the nervous system, to put people in a place of relaxation, where they can experience more mental clarity, calm and an objective perspective on life, away from the stresses of their day.

One thing that's going to come to bear post industrial revolution is the amount of noise that we as human beings have created, which takes us away from that natural environment and into this noisy urban environment. We lose touch with the sounds, the beauty and the essence of nature in cities and that's potentially problematic for our mental health. his latest initiative crafting biophilic sounds for interior spaces

If you're able to find time and space to consciously listen, then you will receive added health benefits in the same way that you might from meditation practice for example.

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https://openearmusic.com/soundwellness/

https://www.swellstudio.io/

https://www.ambientflo.com/

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Full transcription courtesy of Otter AI (excuse typos)

Brian, thanks for joining us on the podcast today. sound therapy is a hot topic, but it's also something that has an element of mystique around it. So I just wanted to get your thoughts on how music can affect us via our senses?

Brian D'Souza

Yeah, well, thanks for having me to join you in the podcast. I think you've touched on two distinct concepts there: music and you mentioned sound therapy.

music for wellbeing

Since as early as I can remember, I've been a fan of music, I think most of us know that music can affect us in many different ways, we've probably all had music as a soundtrack to our lives to some extent. We are all in essence expert listeners, we are listening to music, our worlds are filled with music, we're always receiving as our ears are always open.

music curation with technology

We're all DJs now in a sense, we can select music for our dinner party, or for our gym session or whatever with the new technologies we have greater access to all forms of music than we've ever had before. So music is at our fingertips, we innately know how to curate that music for different activities.

Health benefits of sound therapy

As far as sound therapy and its effects. For me, it was just trying to unpick what music is, the building blocks towards the soul, and how that song, or those frequencies, in essence would affect your brain and body in different ways.

So sound therapy was for me an exercise in trying to discover the inner workings of a soul.

Sound therapy works by using particular instruments, typically known as healing instruments, it doesn't always have to be made with those instruments, but those seem to be the most effective in terms of triggering a particular state of mind in the listener who, in effect receives those sounds normally lying down and going through some kind of a ritual, helping them to get to a place where they're open to receiving those sounds for full health benefit.

Sound and the nervous system

In fact, what it's doing is it's triggering different emotions and brainwaves, different elements of the nervous system, to put people hopefully in a place of relaxation, where they can experience more mental clarity, calm and an objective perspective on life, away from the stresses of their day. So, we've been able to bring people out of the present moment and put them into a safe space where they can delve deeper into different realms of consciousness, which I find really fascinating.

The distinction between sound and music

Matt Morley

You've made a an important distinction there between sound as a concept and music, which introduces the idea of sounds of nature that are, in some ways, the baseline from an evolutionary perspective, we were surrounded by that, as we evolved over hundreds of 1000s of years. So how do you see that relationship between, a connection to nature and our mood state? Perhaps even how our brain functions, cognitive performance or memory?

An evolutionary perspective on sound wellness

Brian D'Souza

Yeah, absolutely. I think the evolutionary perspective is important here. You know, from the earliest forms of man, music perhaps predates language, we're listening to music before we're even born in the womb, the rhythm of our mother's heartbeat, we're hearing the musicality of our mother's speech.

So inherently, we're open as human beings to receiving music and to understand the musicality within speech. When we're born, we immediately are immersed in a world of sound.

sounds of the natural environment and human health

From an evolutionary perspective, in terms of the natural environment, birds singing is a signal of safety - all is well, if they stopped singing, you know, perhaps as a predator lurking around the corner. Alternatively, they might change, you know, their types of calls to warn other birds of their species about a predator, or danger or whatever.

It starts to activate the sympathetic nervous system - fight or flight - that's something that has been with us since the earliest days of the universe, it's intrinsic to who we are as people.

the biophilia hypothesis

I think the natural environment is something that innately we feel an attachment to, you know, and I think that one thing that's going to come to bear, I guess, post industrial revolution is the amount of noise that we as human beings have created, which takes us away from that natural state and into this noisy urban environment. We lose touch with the sounds, the beauty and the essence of nature in cities and that's potentially problematic for our mental health.

Matt Morley

So we've introduced the third concept around noise, which I think has an inherently negative connotation. And if we bring it back to neutral, at least within the perspective of our evolutionary past, then you get to something close to what you're trying to do with the Ambient Flo project, so talk to us a little bit about that and how it connects with mental health and wellbeing.

soundscapes for mental health and wellbeing

Brian D'Souza

Ambient Flo began life as a live stream DJ set-up in my garden, it was the first days of lockdown, the sun was shining, we were entering into territory unknown. I think there's a lot of people, myself included, that were quite stressed at what the outcomes might be. Obviously, there was this real risk and danger to our health in terms of COVID-19. And a lot of people in my community of DJs and musicians were started to do live streams, trying to bring the club or the live experience into the home that way.

To me, that felt really alien, as a DJ I need to perform to a crowd and be there in the room with people. It's the interaction between myself, picking the tunes and the people dancing and responding to that really makes some sort of sense.

So what I decided to do instead was set up a live stream of ambient music where people could, in essence, receive the music early on a Saturday morning. So people were in essence just waking up. And with my very rudimentary technical setup on Instagram Live my phone would pick up the sounds of birdsong from my garden. And all of a sudden, the combination of music and birds in fact became the sonic experience that people were listening to.

I got so many comments from listeners saying this is brilliant, love the music, but actually really drawn to the birdsong and the natural environment. It made me think I'm very privileged to have a garden in London. And to be able to listen to birdsong. as frequently as I can do.

Studies showed the pandemic affected the noise levels in cities dropped because of less traffic. So the Birdsong, although it didn't actually get louder, the birds were perceived as singing louder due to a reduction in the ambient traffic noise.

Nature sounds and music combined for wellness

Anyway, the main takeaway was that the birdsong and the natural sounds were a precious feature for all the listenership. So when I eventually turned it into a radio station, I said, well, we need to try and recreate this.

So on the radio you have two channels, you have the music channel, and you have the birdsong recording channel, and it's your choice, you can just listen to music, or to Birdsong, or you can blend the two, which I think is a nice touch. We've now been running the station for a year and a half, and continually gets great feedback from people.

Anxiety-reducing sounds for calm mood states

Going back to your point around, you know, the health aspects of this. I wanted to put together a selection of songs, that really helped me lower my stress levels, and feel calm, and give myself this sort of safe space in amongst this terrible situation that the planet was enduring at that time.

At the same time, I was studying psychotherapy, learning about how sound can trigger different mood states, you know, bring yourself to that sense of relaxation. I thought, well, this music is, in my opinion, perfect for that. And it seems like the listenership agreed.

Matt Morley

I had it on for an hour yesterday, and definitely once I figured out that I could have both tracks playing at the same time, so that the ambient stuff and the birdsong that took it to the next level. So ambientflo.com

You mentioned ambient music, which I think may or may not appeal to everyone, but it does seem to have a very calming effect. There's that immediate sense of it bringing things down in tempo and encouraging a sense of rest and relaxation. But it is clearly distinct from muzak, which is just the poor quality background noise that we often end up hearing in commercial spaces.

Your Open Ear Music business is is all about counterbalancing that and taking a more conscious approach to the music that is associated with brands, particularly in physical spaces. So when you're thinking about creating an acoustic identity, or filling a space with sounds, and presumably music primarily, that connects with that brand, how do you go about that process?

Acoustic identities for brands

Brian D'Souza

It's trying to tell their story through a selection of songs. In essence, every song is a piece of communication, a piece of music is a fantastic thing it's packed with so much information. And that means that in actual fact, it can be quite complicated to think about, you know, what a song could lead to, you know, a listenership. And then when you take that song and put it in a context, that could be gyms or wherever, then you have that additional layer, where there's a certain expectation for the customer in terms of functionally what that space is set up to do if it's a gym space, if it's a restaurant or a bar. And then also their perception of of that brand, you know, what type of brand personality?

Pretty much every business plays music, the quality has gotten a lot better over the last 15 years, I think because people are slowly understanding the music they play is having an impact and can be a brand positive impact on the customer experience. And that's going to be a win win for everyone involved. It wasn't the case 15 years ago.

Music for productivity benefits

Muzak was interesting, because conceptually, it was designed around increasing productivity in factory spaces. And this was around the war time. And they would dictate quite a scientific approach with the music, it was a thing called stimulus progression.

So they didn't play music all throughout the day, they only played it in short bursts, at different times throughout the day. And that was really just as a motivational thing for the workforce, to be able to like, bring a bit of more energy, when they're kind of concentration levels kind of dwindled, or whatever.

There was this kind of inherent understanding that music had a functional purpose and benefit, unfortunately, what then it became was this kind of like, elevates, and literally kind of like wishy washy pastiche of what you know, music can be. And I think when open ears started, and certainly our mission today is to say, well, music is beautiful, we're filling our spaces, with music, it's having an impact. And again, it goes back to this paradigm of you know, is one man's music is another man's noise. Let's get it right, let's, if you get it right, it's going to be a positive is gonna be positive for the business, it's also gonna be a positive for customers, and they're gonna appreciate that.

In terms of the accessibility of music. Well, that's actually meant for the general kind of public. And the way that they listen is they're much more open minded to all forms of music, so a lot more a rich and diverse array of music. So actually, that gives brands and branded spaces a much more bigger chance to become creative with the music selections, you know, 15 years ago, it was the charts, and the classics, and not much else outside of that. No, you can really get into like the long tail of like all the independent, quite left field experiments or releases and really start to kind of tell this this story through the selection of songs functional, yes, but also like beautiful and inspiring at the same time.

Matt Morley

Let me dig into that, because I think you're absolutely right, what's happened is there's been a sense of democratization of, of music via these platforms, such as Spotify, and suddenly we're all able to dive in and out of country rock and an Afro Latino beats wherever else we want to go in the space of of an hour, right? So it's, in one sense, it's all too easy for a brand just to say, Well, okay, we're gonna follow these playlists, and that's more or less our mood, and Spotify will just keep spinning off that concept more or less. And then you know, we're good. We've got our we've got our soundscape. And I think all too often, we see that still where it's an improvement, for sure. But it's still not, there's not quite enough effort being made, and therefore, you know, this, it can still go wrong. So I think that leads you into the idea of more conscious listening, right? Because there are spaces where it's clearly background music, if it's so for example, a co working space, you don't want it to dominate, if it's a retail space, you don't want it to dominate.

When you're in a in a fitness environment, like a gym. It's a really central part and then to the Think of spinning studios, for example. I mean, it's like one of the main levers that they have to do it. But then, in a sense, like the ultimate peak of that then is this space where you're able to engage people in a conscious listening experience, right? And so how do you with the latest project with swell and the idea of a biophilic multi sensory experience, how have you integrated what we discussed previously about He sounds and that idea of really engaging with the music and what does that become in terms of this new brand that you've spun off from, from open air?

Brian D'Souza

Yeah, so Swell is a sister brand to Open Ear Music. And as we've just launched it, as you mentioned, I think open here, just back to the point around functional sound, I mean, yes, we fully understand the, you know, music for most people, in the spaces that we work with gyms, restaurants, bars, shops, etc, its periphery to, you know, the main activity. So yes, it has to be right, but you're not necessarily listening to it consciously. It might be, and this is, we do have lots of examples of this where one track, you know grab your attention, and you really want to know what that is. And that's a great thing for music discovery.

But, you know, most of the time, you're going to be just passively receiving the music, and you'll know when it's not, right. I mean, that is the thing, you know, if it doesn't feel right, you will take action by leaving that space, and tons of examples of that.

Active listening / deep listening / conscious listening

But in essence, if it fits the surroundings, and it makes some sort of sense, then you know, that's going to make you feel comfortable in that kind of space. On the other side, you have a different kind of listening, I guess, and there's different ways to describe it, you mentioned conscious listening, it can also be referred to active listening can also be referred to deep listening.

This is really based around an intention by the listener to be more conscious, or to be more active, if you were present, in terms of listening to the sounds, you know, we were very good at processing Sonic information. As well as performing an activity, whatever that might be, it's cooking, or driving or whatever, we're very good at that.

Before recorded music, we only did conscious listening, because you would go to a concert, or folk music, so recorded music really transformed music into this largely passive thing, I guess what we're seeing with Swell sound wellness is, we're trying to put forward that notion that consciousness thing is important, it's important for health.

If you're able to find time and space to consciously listen, then you will receive added health benefits in the same way that you might from meditation practice for example.

So, consciousness thing is, you know, is a way for us to just say, Look, if you were able to pay more attention to the sounds, and give yourself space to do that, then there's potential health benefits to be gained.

Biophilia and nature sounds

So the way that we deliver that, through the Swell wellness sounds project is this combination between Biophilia, nature sounds, with music through different frequencies and intervals, to be able to trigger different emotions, mental states, even feelings from the listener. Then the sound therapy part can potentially trigger an altered state of consciousness but at the least promotes a sense of deep relaxation.

Biofilico quiet room concept design for workplace wellbeing

Sound in workplace wellness and office recharge rooms

Matt Morley

So in workplace wellness we have a concept called a recharge room or a restorative space it's often an unused meeting room, we might get 30 - 50 square meters where you're given permission to rest and step away from the work that you're doing. Your Swell wellness sounds could certainly play a role in that.

What about the Soniferous Forest project you delivered recently in London’s high-end boutique Brown’s? Also a biophilic environment, can you try and paint that picture for people so they can get a sense of what what that looks like?

Brian D'Souza

Sure, absolutely, is a really good manifestation. And as one of the first projects we've done as Swell, it's a good example of, of what we're looking to do. And the potential of this type of work. The Soniferous Forest is firstly an installation. It's based in Brown’s, which is a fashion retail store in central London and Mayfair.

They have what they call the immersive room, where they have a small space that they do a range of different pop up and partnerships throughout the year. We've currently got the installation live, and it will run to the end of of April. So if anyone's in London, and want to go and check out it's absolutely free. It's a 15 minute experience. In essence, it's inspired by by two things.

Forest Bathing sounds

One was my experience going forest bathing. So getting out into nature. Shinrin Yoku is Japanese practice of forest bathing, and really just trying to like a kind of mindful approach to being in nature, paying attention to all senses. There's plenty of studies now that have been done around how forest bathing will reduce stress levels, anxiety, reducing cortisol balance and promoting your NK / natural killer cells, etc. So that was all very interesting.

Then I guess taking what we're talking about with the Ambient Flo idea where a lot of people don't have access to nature in a dense urban environment. This was like trying to bring nature to them, but in essence creating a forest experience within this retail store with bark on the walls and grass on the floor etc.

Soundscapes and noise

The other part of the inspiration is derived from a concept of soundscapes by R. Murray Schafer a Canadian ecologist who in fact passed away last year. He wrote a book called ‘Soundscape and the tuning of the world’. looking at the rising noise levels in cities, the potentially detrimental health impacts that that's having. And he really advocated for this cultivation of significance gardens in our urban environments, or, you know, across our different spaces that we create this recovery of what he calls positive silence. Give us back space for mental, spiritual, life's energies, etc.

So the forest garden is a safe space where people can go in and listen to field recordings from local forests around London via a headphone experience. It’s a spatial audio 15 minute composition, which in essence resembles a sort of sound therapy, sound bath or Gong bath that uses acoustic instruments, instead of the traditional instruments, the gong and the singing bowl.

The reason for that was we experimented using Gong recordings, etc. and the feedback that we got was very mixed at best because we felt like we needed the gong player in the room, you needed the instrument, the physical object to kind of have authentic association. Without it, it can be a very dark and ominous and almost scary kind of sound.

Nature sounds for sound masking benefits

Matt Morley

You’re involved in the forage sounds for a restaurant called Native in London too, also at Brown’s correct?

Brian D'Souza

Yes, two separate brands. And this is a coincidence, almost the two projects came about around about the same time. But yeah, Native, the challenge was they have this outside space, which is beautiful. But unfortunately, next door to them, they have a I think it's Claridges Hotel, they're doing lots of building works. So in the daytime is lots of noise. And it's really, really intrusive.

We were tasked with creating a soundscape that will try to mask some of the noise. And actually, you mentioned office spaces. This is another project we've done with, you know, some cool workspaces. We worked with The Office Group - very similar challenge, where the noise levels would be very distracting for people trying to work or in fact many people were very self conscious in quiet areas to have work conversations, meetings, etc.

By introducing music into a cool workspace in that case, and with Native restaurant introducing a nature sound biophilic soundscape, helped to mask these unwanted sounds and make the spaces a lot more pleasant and functional.

Matt Morley

Awesome, because I feel like we can carry on for quite a while, but I'm gonna cap it there. Be respectful of your time. Thank you so much.

Brian D'Souza

Great, well if anyone's interested, they can get in touch with me and I'd be delighted to chat.

https://openearmusic.com/soundwellness/

https://www.ambientflo.com/

Acoustic performance in WELL buildings

acoustic comfort / acoustic performance / sound design / WELL rating system / healthy building

WELL Certified / SOUND CONCEPT

acoustic performance with ethan bourdeau

Welcome to episode 48 of the Green & Healthy Places podcast in which we discuss the themes of wellbeing and sustainability in real estate.

I’m your host, Matt Morley of Biofilico Healthy Buildings and in this episode we’re in New York talking to Ethan Bourdeau, the Sound Concept Lead at the International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) - the organization behind the WELL healthy building rating system. 

An architectural acoustician, Ethan also holds down a role as Executive Director of Standards and Built Environment for Quiet Parks International (QPI).

Ethan and I discuss the role of acoustics in creating a comfortable environment for building occupants; how pink noise can cover up unwanted background noise, sound zones and spatial layouts; the all important distinction between sound, silence, and noise; the role nature sounds can play in promoting wellness; and the main causes of noise in a building that need to be mitigated in a comprehensive healthy building acoustics plan in line with the WELL Sound concept he helped conceive.

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acoustic performance / conversation highlights

• Acoustics is just one element of a holistic platform of comfort metrics that are operating in synchronicity.

• In WELL we look at spatial layout, acoustic thresholds and criteria for optimal performance (pulled from the leading acoustical standards) and in some cases, include novel requirements for acoustical design and acoustical comfort that have yet to really hit the market outside of the WELL rating system.

• Not all sound is noise - sound is just sound until it annoys you, then it becomes noise!

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WELL acoustic performance conversation with Ethan Bourdeau, Sound Concept Lead, International WELL Building Institute (IWBI)

full transcript courtesy of OTTER.AI (excuse any typos)

Matt Morley

Ethan, a pleasure to have you here. I'd like to start with some basics, if we may - what was your path into sound design and audio engineering? For people who are perhaps not entirely familiar with how that relates to real estate, perhaps you could give us a quick intro to that bridge between those worlds?

Ethan Bourdeau

Sure, thanks, Matt. It's great to be here. Happy to discuss this. So my background in acoustics and sound goes back to my days as a musician growing up. I've practiced and spent a lot of time performing on the folium, which is a low brass tube like instrument that carried me throughout a degree in Music Performance and Acoustical Engineering at the University of Hartford.

So, yeah, constantly listening to my own sound really led me to want to better understand the way that interior environments sounded and to what degree architects and designers have the ability to manipulate, shape and improve the sound of spaces that we spend our time in.

Nature sounds, quiet and wellbeing

Matt Morley

As context, the work you're doing with the Quiet Parks International (QPI) might give us a starting point of the best case scenario, as in a perfectly quiet, natural environment. Does nature provide a baseline of excellence in terms of sound and noise?

Ethan Bourdeau

My work with Quiet Parks International is my latest endeavor. It's been the result of a year's worth of collaboration with those folks, field recorders that have come together behind this one mission of preserving and recognizing quiet in the natural and built environments throughout the world.

Their expertise so far has brought them to places like Glacier National Park, Haleakala Crater on Hawaii, and various other urban and wilderness quiet parks throughout the world as potential candidates for meeting our criteria that denotes and best exemplifies what quiet really means to the surrounding or indeed visiting populations.

We have, over the past year, worked to define what that criteria looks like, how do we define quiet from a physical, a parametric and even a subjective standpoint.

To what degree do we assess using audio technology, sound level meters, audio recording devices, and even just anecdotal and colloquial evidence that we can get from people with boots on the ground in those areas to describe ‘quiet’.

Over time, we're planning to develop a better understanding of how quiet and the definition of silence and tranquility changes around the world. So we're actively recruiting and finding candidate spaces, including a site here in New York City, actually, that we're hoping can add more flavor to understanding and unraveling that narrative.

Nature sounds for wellness

Matt Morley

So these are areas where there's no obvious intervention of a built environment, you're effectively out in a completely isolated natural corner of the world, in which case ‘quiet’ is not necessarily ‘silence’ . It's the sounds of nature with no man-made interventions.

Ethan Bourdeau

It is, for the most part, we do find ourselves in instances where the term ‘silence’ could perhaps be the only classification in the case of some remote places like Haleakala crater, but you're right for the most part, we are entering places where the soundscape is defined by sources of sound that are not manmade, they are a part of the natural landscape, they could be geographical features, they could be animals, migratory birds, insects, etc.

Well Certified / SOUND CONCEPT

Acoustic comfort in buildings

Matt Morley

So if we then use that as a bridge into the discussion around interiors and buildings, the idea of acoustic comfort or acoustical comfort, do you see that as being a fundamentally objective measure? Or is it all to do with how each individual responds to noise and their personal reactions to whether it's too quiet or to silent or is it and then measures that you can use that would say, Well, this is the optimal acoustic comfort to perform a certain task.

Ethan Bourdeau

When we think about occupants within a space, we can learn a lot about where are those people are coming from if if they're entering a new office environment that's undergoing renovation, to what degree can their past and prior experiences with the acoustical quality or even just the indoor environmental quality of where they're originally used to, how does that inform the way that we as designers can approach facilitating better sounding spaces.

Acoustics is just one element of a holistic platform of comfort metrics that are operating in synchronicity.

Acoustics in the WELL Building Standard

I think one great example is how the WELL rating system has been able to break this down into the various concepts among which includes SOUND is a key feature.

In WELL we look at spatial layout, acoustic thresholds and criteria for optimal performance (pulled from the leading acoustical standards) and in some cases, include novel requirements for acoustical design and acoustical comfort that have yet to really hit the market outside of the WELL rating system.

It’s a huge opportunity, I think, for not just acousticians, but really architects, designers, folks who are consulting in the space of biophilic design to really ask those questions of what is it about the sonic environment that maybe even I don't quite fully understand or can convey to occupants in clients who are coming from those areas where that was a large concern and maybe an obstacle towards a better productive and more fulfilling workplace experience.

Possible sources of noise in a healthy building

Matt Morley

Okay, so what are the typical causes of unwanted noise in buildings be that an office, hotel, learning or residential environment? How does the WELL standard concept of sound mapping mitigate for those sources of noise?

Ethan Bourdeau

There are many different sources, for the purposes of an initial review of a building, we'll look at environmental impacts from exterior noise intrusion that can be sources such as traffic, aviation noise, pedestrian noise depending on where this place is located.

We also look at Interior mechanical systems design and the way that building services can potentially impact not just any one given space, but the building at large which introduces sound in a number of ways.

Sound can travel through air, it can can travel through vents in HVAC systems, even through structures. If you have large, rotating pieces of mechanical equipment that are delivering air throughout a building, or even filtration systems, the vibration of air and movement can enter the structure and then radiate throughout an entire building.

We can also talk about occupant generated noise in the office that can be as one of my friends likes to say, the person next to you with the Frito lays chip bag in the middle of the day making sounds while you're on one of your 100 Zoom calls for the week. Or it could just be any combination of activity that's happening again throughout the building.

So while sound travels through air it can also travel through structures and with the proliferation of fitness areas and CrossFit gyms, things like impact noise from weights can travel through an entire building as well. Those lead to distractions and other obstacles to productivity.

Sound mapping in a healthy building

Matt Morley

So the process of sound mapping then would be an attempt to prevent the construction of the eventual fit-out on a building project being completed before a plan is in place for acoustics.

So you're talking to the HVAC engineers, the architects, quite a few people around that table to try and get a sense of what the acoustic environment will be like in a space especially on a on a new build construction?

Ethan Bourdeau

So when it comes to acoustics, there's something that's generating the sound to the source, which can be controlled or maintained, in some instances, it gets a little difficult when we talk about occupants, for instance, but for mechanical noise or exterior noise intrusion, there's ways to investigate noise control at the source.

There's the path so what is between that source and the receiver with HVAC, we mentioned ductwork there's also structural components - are we reducing vibration caused by circular mechanical equipment.

In the case of occupant noise, what's blocking you from not just the line of sound or the the path of the sound, but also even the line of sight with you and another person that plays a role in what we call psycho acoustics or the role that acoustics plays in our own mental and cognitive, health and wellbeing within the built environment.

Then there's the receiver. And so that's us the listeners, the final crux in the acoustic comfort equation of - who is receiving this sound? How are they responding to it and then how can we qualitatively assess the subjective outcomes of such sound.

Not all sound is noise, sound is just sound until it annoys you, then that becomes noise!

Biophilic design and acoustic comfort

Matt Morley

That brings to mind a project that I was involved in, in Switzerland, it was a round shaped, concrete and glass corporate headquarter building for a natural food business. We were called in to assist both on the biophilic design side, but also trying to fix the incredible noise issues.

They had a lot of hard surfaces, double-height central atriums that were allowing sounds to bounce around from the ground level reception up to almost the second floor of the building. We looked at options for introducing acoustic materials and everything from acoustic paint on the walls to sound absorbing plant walls.

Noise control and sound absorbing solutions

I'd love to hear how you think about what the tools are available to a consultant in that type of environment, as a specialist really, in that type of thing, you're going into a space, they have a problem with noise, and it's already happening. What's in your toolbox?

Ethan Bourdeau

Well, the biggest question that I would ask at the start is the one that I hoped the project team would have asked before creating a space like this, it's what is it the intent of this space? Why are people congregating here? What exactly are the activities and the experiences that have happen happen in this particular environment, then from there we can define criteria.

We’d work with the team to say, unless you do this, you will not be able to achieve XYZ. So you know, in the case of this building that you're describing, it sounds like there could be issues with speech intelligibility, or potentially even issues with too much speech intelligibility, where there are areas where you want to hear someone speak, and you simply can't.

Then when you're working at your desk, you might be hearing more conversations than you would may like to, and so that's where we pull out the really specific solutions based examples for acoustic and interior design and noise control. So in these cases, we would look at how do we reduce the sound in that path equation that we were talking about and source path and receiver?

Speech intelligibility for acoustic comfort

How do we bolster speech reinforcement, if someone is giving a presentation if they're giving a lecture, or even if they're talking on a simple zoom call, we're now starting to add tools to our toolkit that address this.

This in this hybrid workplace lifestyle, where we can communicate with others around the world like you and I are right now and not necessarily need to be in a studio that has acoustic panels like mine, you can be in a place that considers speech intelligibility without really breaking the bank and creating something that's a studio quality space.

There's no one element of acoustic comfort that should be focused for every single project, every single project is different.

WELL Rating Standard on sound in open plan offices

Matt Morley

So the WELL rating standard is especially strong on mixed-use buildings, and particularly commercial office buildings. Imagine then an open plan, office space for a creative team, the intent was originally to foster collaboration but there has been kickback on that over recent years around productivity taking a hit rather than a boost. Do you think there's still space for open plan offices like that with certain acoustical interventions?

Ethan Bourdeau

So a hot topic in the acoustics industry, right now, I'm fortunate to sit on a few Working Group committees for ISO and other standards groups that are specifically looking at Interior acoustics in the open work plan environment. And these conversations get very complicated very quickly, because the culture of Open Office acoustics and open office use in general changes so much as you go into different regions throughout Europe, and especially between North America, Europe and the rest of the world.

Acoustics in a workplace wellness strategy

Where we pull this criteria from to develop, and design, better acoustics and open offices changes quite a bit. So what I like to do, again, is really take it back to some fundamental steps. And on a lot of these working group discussions, I bring up what I feel the WELL rating system has done so well in breaking down into the fundamentals of what types of zones could you potentially think about, and what are the lowest common denominators for acoustical comfort when thinking about spatial layout, from a workplace strategy perspective in an open office.

Acoustic zones in a healthy building plan

So we have a few categories in this WELL feature. So one, we break it down into quiet zones, where focused work is the priority, or that could also include places like bedrooms, for instance, what is an area that you want to protect in terms of acoustic comfort and make entry as a sensitive space, we then have mixed zones, which could be a combination of any of those things and include collaboration, not all collaboration necessarily has to be boisterous and loud and, and people shouting over a desk of a floor plans, or, or whatever, it could also just be, hey, we're going to meet together as a team in this open environment and discuss XYZ amongst ourselves at appropriate levels.

Then we have loud zones. And so these could be any combination of areas where you have noisy mechanical equipment that just needs its own isolated, dedicated space to be moved away from any other sensitive environments, are these gonna be places where you have amplified speech, you have maybe a very active teleconference room that uses amplification. So these are areas that you really need to keep separate from your quiet zones.

In the precondition, this is required for every single project in the sound concept. Now, we have found that when people approach from this lens they have a better idea of WELL, I know now what I should probably be pursuing with our subsequent optimizations in the wall rating system.

Spatial layouts in the WELL SOUND concept

Based on the spatial layout that we were required to do. I know that speech reinforcement is going to be important. I know that speech privacy in my Open Office is going to be important. So what do I need to do to then show up and make sure I'm meeting those needs for my occupants? And those conversations become very fruitful, we learn a lot more about acoustics than we would if we were just meeting criteria. If we were just submitting documentation, saying, from an acoustician, you pass, here's the checkmark. Here's the check in that box of acoustic comfort.

So I would encourage folks who are in that position of rethinking the Open Office, from an acoustic perspective to really focus on the lowest common denominator, how many spaces do you intend to have there where focused quiet work is a key function of the holistic open office design, and start from there, because if collaboration is the leading draw to creating an open collaborative space, the folks who rely on quiet zones to complete their work aren't being there. The folks that are relying on quiet zones to achieve their work, have needs that aren't being met by the design team and the organization who put collaboration first, when in reality, people want a healthy balance of both.

Sound masking systems in a healthy building

Matt Morley

And we also mentioned the idea of sound masking systems - the idea of there being a level of white noise that can be pumped into the background to create a baseline that can help cover some of the mechanical systems. How does that work? Is that about the frequency? Is that about the the intensity of the sound? And would some nature sounds fit into that category?

Ethan Bourdeau

Yes, so sound masking is a very tried and true technology that as a consultant, I've been able to deploy quite a bit in open office settings with great success. And what it really focuses on is delivering a Pink Noise signal, which is somewhat calmer than white noise, which, if you were able to compare the two on YouTube I guarantee you will have a preference over over pink noise to over white.

Why we choose pink noise is because you can you can also go into the sound source itself and adjust the contour of the equalization curve, so that it can really match and really perform in accordance with preferred occupant acoustic comfort parameters. Now that's that's more of the technical side of how you would deploy a system like this.

A sound masking system is a network of loudspeakers that are directly mounted hung from or otherwise located throughout a ceiling, plane or even plenum, they can be directly exposed or be behind an acoustic ceiling tile. So it's a very useful tool when we try to address speech privacy from a signal to noise perspective.

Sound masking for productivity in an office

Signal to Noise - meaning you have a ‘signal’, which could be another person talking, their voice carries throughout an office that you don't necessarily need to hear. And then ‘noise’ being what is the background sound level that allows you to discern that signal or the sound of another person's voice.

So as we raise that background sound, the difference between the ambient level and the signal is then reduced. And so that helps with reducing the total impact of hearing another person's voice encroaching on your ability to focus and be better productive in a in a workplace.

Natural soundscapes in the built environment

Now to your other question about natural sounds as a sound source, I'm, as a designer and in working with folks who are field recordists and who are architectural designers. I'm actively trying to indicate that introducing natural soundscapes into the built environment is a new format of introduced sound. Sound masking is a form of introducing sound that focuses specifically on speech privacy.

Natural soundscapes have a number of potential benefits to them as well being immersed in and hearing soundscapes of birds, wind, waves, etc. In a spatially uniform environment that can elicit emotional response in ways that addressing speech privacy, for instance, isn't necessarily going to do.

There's some really tremendous examples of new technology that's emerging that focuses on this. There's actually a company there's a couple companies one is MoodSonic, who actually sits on our advisory board for the sound concept that focuses on delivering soundscapes from a natural sound source perspective.

There's a new company that I've heard about called spatial, who I'm trying to learn more about in the coming weeks that is providing a similar solution and has worked with some hospitals and then North America to create spaces for respite for nurses and people who need a moment of Zen or peace or tranquility to to continue their daily work.

Biophilic sounds for wellbeing

Matt Morley

Yeah, I've certainly used it in an intimate nature space in the central business district of London called Canary Wharf. We did a month-long biophilic design research study.

Sound was definitely part of what he called a multi-sensory wellbeing design strategy along with aromatherapy, and smart lights and various other things. But I found it was all too easy to just accept that, you know, a Spotify playlist of English bird songs, as we were in England, would be sufficient, I felt that there was more to be done in terms of perhaps matching place, season and the situation or the desired emotional response. And so I could see how those type of services could perhaps add that extra layer of detail, right?

Ethan Bourdeau

In reality, the ear is not dumb. The ear knows when it's in an office and crickets are playing from a Sonos speaker in the corner. The brain understands that when it is truly immersed in an environment, only then can it naturally respond and react to it the way that we would if we were there in reality.

I am an aspiring audio engineer and more of an architectural acoustician. But audio engineers are really looking at this from the perspective of, of how do sounds really travel in the sound field? And how can multiple loudspeakers and an array of loudspeakers help to create and elicit those environments.

I've seen examples where in software, they can create sound sources and an XYZ grid and just have them move around. And you know, not too dissimilar to going to the theater and listening to a Dolby system where you can pinpoint exactly where the sound is in the given cinema. So we're seeing that enter places like workplaces, hospitals and public public areas where sound installations can better interact with humans and vice versa.

WELL Rating System on SOUND

Matt Morley

In terms of how the WELL rating system positions the sound concept, the ultimate aim here, when you get all of this right, is primarily a boost in comfort and productivity, worker happiness? What are your desired outcomes in terms of a healthy building strategy and the acoustic component in particular?

Ethan Bourdeau

It changes per project type. So in a typical workplace, yes, we would talk about workplace satisfaction, we've talked about productivity, we would talk about ability to collaborate, if if there are more spaces, if there are more areas throughout a given office floor plate, where a person can interact with different types of acoustic environments to better support their work, there is a sense of fulfillment that we can we can draw from that and indices indicating surveys that are indicating that noise is a top concern.

Or pointing to that the lack of choice and the inability to be in a place where you can speak when you need to without worrying about other people hearing you or vice versa.

That is the primary focus that is that is something in the workplace environment that that is a key outcome. Absolutely. And especially now when we think about how do we return to that type of environment where you you are looking someone directly in the eye from across a table and your voice doesn't have to go through a series of digital signal processing through Whatever you can describe the software for this hybrid environment, I think there is a real learning that we will have to undertake when it comes to thinking about how we communicate in the workplace, for instance, and then that will ultimately describe the way that we address acoustics from the onset and design.

Acoustics for improved sleep in residential and healthcare

Now, with places like healthcare and residential, we see noise as a concern as it relates to sleep. And with acoustics being a top contributor to sleep disturbance, it's important that we can see the key outcomes in things like fitness trackers, and other types of technology that can measure and better assess our quality of sleep.

This is very important with healthcare where patient surveys that are administered, especially here in North America, indicate the performance of a hospital based on a patient's ability to sleep and spend their time recovering in some instances.

The links between acoustic comfort and patient recovery are many, it's actually where a lot of the research in acoustics and health and wellbeing derives from.

So over time, as we see places like hospitals, Senior Living outpatient facilities, adopting more of these health and wellbeing metrics into their design, the more we're going to see these uptakes in patient satisfaction surveys.

Matt Morley

In summary then, the WELL rating standard for me is a such a helpful marker it has given me at least a minimal level of understanding in sound and acoustics planning. So congratulations on everything you've done so far. How can people reach out to connect with you?

Ethan Bourdeau

You can find me on LinkedIn of all places. I'm usually posting the latest updates with all of the outfits that I'm involved with there.

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/.

WELL v2 Sound Concept

https://v2.wellcertified.com/en/wellv2/sound

acoustical comfort in healthy buildings & interiors

acoustical comfort / acoustics in interior design / healthy buildings / wellness interiors / sound mapping / acoustic materials / acoustic finishes / well building standard

What is acoustical comfort?

When due attention is given to interior acoustics as part of the design and fit-out process, unwanted sound simply should not be an issue for building occupants, meaning there are no distracting echos or noise levels beyond those that align with the primary activity taking place in that area - this can differ greatly between a buzzy restaurant for example, and a library or office.

Due to the subtleties of this zone by zone approach, ‘acoustic comfort’ is a largely qualitative concept evaluated primarily by occupant satisfaction surveys - using questions such as “is the sound level right for what you are doing?” and so on.

We also have the possible addition of quantitative data via more scientific measurements around decibel levels and a lot of planning takes place in advance of a refurbishment or fit-out to anticipate potential acoustical comfort issues before they become reality.

As we explore below, a wellness interior designer has a number of tools at his or her disposal to integrate materials that absorb sound into the space, no matter whether it be office, residential, retail or restaurant.

What are the main causes of poor acoustics in buildings and interiors?

Building issues such as loud HVAC equipment, improperly insulated spaces, or an excess of hard interior surfaces in areas with regularly high densities of occupants (and their conversations), can all contribute to poor acoustics and occupant discomfort. 

Airborne noise such as the air con / HVAC system and other mechanical appliances is all too common, especially in older buildings. Then there are of course the sounds of other occupants in or outside a building, primarily via speech but also footfall, opening or closing doors and so on, all of which can cumulatively become a recurring distraction and reduce concentration.

Impact noise, for example from a gym or children playing, is an even more acute version of the same problem. Imagine operating a spa or retail space on the ground floor of a building with a first floor CrossFit gym above (without proper sound insulating flooring to absorb the sound of loaded barbells being repeatedly dropped).

Then there is the problem of a lack of acoustical privacy between enclosed spaces and equally within open-plan spaces, with noise traveling from one of the space to another, bouncing around from wall to wall constantly.

Finally, there is the external noise source of passing transportation such as cars, buses, trains or planes, which can become intensely distracting both during the work day and at night.

What are the health risks of interiors with poor acoustics?

Human exposure to unfavorable noises and improperly regulated acoustics has a tangible impact on mental wellbeing, concentration and focus. It’s not going to send you to an early grave perhaps but it can create a consistent, low-level anxiety and stress that accumulates over time.

In other words, in the world of healthy buildings and wellbeing interiors, as consultants and advisors, we want to implement a strategy upfront in order to minimize acoustic discomfort, likely in collaboration with the Mechanical Engineer and Architects for new build construction or refurbishment projects, or solo as wellness interior designers if it’s an interior fit-out.

Consider how a lack of acoustical privacy, speech intelligibility, and general distractions can all impact our comfort in an open-plan office space for example - whether the noise source is from inside that workplace, elsewhere on the same floor or outside the building.

Typical mental wellbeing issues we encounter in such situations are a reduction in attention span, memory retention, and (in a residential context) lower quality sleep at night.

Designing with good acoustics in mind is therefore a fundamental part of any healthy building concept and wellbeing interior design strategy, so let’s look at the tools available to us.

How can a wellbeing interior design consultant improve an acoustics issue?

To combat these issues, strategies such as planned and isolated HVAC systems, reinforced facades, plenty of sound absorptive materials in the interior specifications and the introduction of consistent background noise / white noise can all be useful.

A range of solutions we might choose to deploy as part of a wellness interior design consultancy assignment would include the following:

• Planning of isolated/balanced HVAC mechanical equipment sound levels (provides baseline/anticipated noise levels) in line with WELL recommendations of between 25 maximum noise criteria (NC) for enclosed offices and 40 maximum noise criteria for open-plan office spaces (Ref. WELL Building Standard)

• Fortification of facades (affects exterior noise intrusion) but will require engineers and architects involvement (more suitable for full refurbishment projects rather than interiors only)

• Replacing hard surfaces with sound reducing, sound absorbing surfaces, wall panels, ceiling baffles and surface finishes (ref. Noise Reduction Coefficient - NRC - an average value reflecting its acoustical sound absorbing properties - see WELL Building Standard for more)

• Introducing consistent background noise levels (sound masking) for added acoustic privacy

• Using non-hollow core door ways with gaskets or sweeps to block noise traveling from one side of a door way to the other

• Interior partition walls with high acoustic absorption qualities, e.g. Sound Transmission Class (STC) of minimum 45 (ref WELL Building Standard)

• Interior walls designed for acoustic performance with minimal air gaps and sound transmission, ‘vertical surfaces in an open workspace should have a minimum NRC of 0.8 on at least 25% of the surface area of the surrounding walls' (ref. WELL Building Standard)

• Exterior windows with high acoustic absorption qualities, e.g. a Sound Transmission Class (STC) of minimum 35 (ref WELL Building Standard)

• Imposing limits on music played in a space to limit distractions, e.g. “7 decibels (dBA) above the ambient sound pressure level when measured at a minimum distance of 4.5 m [15 ft] outside of the entrance to the space” (ref. WELL Building Standard)

• Ceiling surfaces should have a minimum NRC of 0.9 for the entire surface area of the ceiling (excluding lights, skylights, diffusers, beams, joists and grilles) (ref. WELL Building Standard)

What does the WELL Building Standard advise on sound and acoustics?

The WELL Building Standard / Sound section aims to confront potential acoustic problems and provides various strategies to diminish negative health impacts. While it is up to the architects and wellness interior design consultants to interpret these objectives creatively through the lens of design, aligning their decisions with the desired wellbeing outcomes. In this way, health can and should become a central part of the design process from the very start of a healthy building design project.

WELL Building Standard SOUND / S01: Sound Mapping

Goal: create site zoning/acoustical plan that identifies potential noise sources that could affect a specific space. This equates to designating ‘loud’, ‘quiet’, and ‘mixed’ spaces according to zone or the programming of each space making up the floor plan or ‘sound map’.

So for example, within an office floor plate, we would create area for ‘deep work’ and solo concentration, as well as more collaborative areas for small groups and private meetings rooms, perhaps integrate some Skype cubicles for 1-2 people while on a call, and so on.

WELL Building Standard SOUND / S02: Max Noise Levels

Goal: Establish background noise levels for interior spaces to determine HVAC and façade design techniques in order to avoid speech intelligibility problems.

WELL Building Standard SOUND / S03: Sound Barriers

Goal: Increase speech privacy, highlight design constraints that may hinder acoustical comfort while including sound absorbing partitions (especially in open floor plans) as physical privacy is often mentally linked to acoustic privacy.

WELL Building Standard SOUND / S04: Sound Absorption

Goal: Design spaces that support speech intelligibility and increase focus paying particular attention to the hazards of hard surfaces that have the potential to reflect more sound and cause acoustic discomfort. By using sound insulating materials interior designers can control the sound absorption levels in any given space, for example via acoustic ceiling panels, flooring and/or wall panels, where appropriate.

WELL Building Standard SOUND / S05: Sound Masking

Goal: Increase acoustical privacy through noise suppression, where sound masking involves deliberately layering in an even noise level, for example of ‘white noise’ or nature sounds.

WELL Building Standard SOUND / S06: Impact Noise Management

Goal: Manage background noise levels between building floors, conscious that lightweight floor construction (CLT, wood truss, steel frame) emits more noise than resilient floor-ceiling construction (thick concrete slab, suspended ceiling).