Acoustics In The Workplace
Our hearing is a fundamental part of our being. It’s one of our primary methods of communication and is part of our balancing within the world we live in. We use it to understand where we are and what is around us.
In terms of the work environment, appropriately treated acoustic space enhances staff productivity and gives them a sense of well-being. From an employment point of view, it will also help with job retention and maintaining key staff within your organisation.
As we all know, work will always come with some degree of stress and tension; it’s merely a fact of working life. However, it can be better managed by taking into account and delivering a work environment which accounts for acoustic needs.
Background Noise
Open-plan offices are a standard feature in a modern building, so, therefore, it is essential to ensure that the levels of background noise or controlled. Facility managers are all too well aware of the complaints that they are likely to receive if staff are subject to high levels of distracting noise over the working day.
Interruptions are stressful when staff are engaged in tasks which require significant levels of concentration. Therefore it is essential to ensure that an effective sound-absorbing strategy has been planned and adopted in such spaces.
With a good sound absorption strategy, levels of background noise will reduce within a given space but not be totally eliminated. No background noise every bit a problem as too much background noise. It’s all about achieving a balance between the two extremes.
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Sound Absorption is Key
The second significant factor here is the interior design. Acoustic’s are essential to many interior specialists. However, there are many poorly designed offices from an acoustic perspective being rolled out.
Designers are happy to have a beautiful high ceiling with exposed services, but they don’t realise the pitfalls.
Hardwood floors, high ceilings, and exposed concrete traps sound/noise within the room and increases the noise level. This is terrible if you’re working there every day, leaving work with your ears ringing. And the customers will say “It’s too loud” or “It’s not very cosy”.
The outcome is an uncomfortable acoustic environment which you want to get away from.
So what’s the solution?
An easy and popular solution is spray-on absorbing material applied to the soffit of a given space.
An essential advantage of spray-on acoustically passes that they completely cover the ceiling surface. Coverage is a crucial feature when it comes round to achieving the best possible outcome.
You can have the best sound-absorbing material in the world, but if the sound does not impact upon that surface, it’s not useful.
This is why Sonaspray is spray applied to the entire surface of the ceiling soffit delivers such exceptional results.
As a baseline, it’s always best to apply such materials to the ceiling before the installation of other services such as cable ducting cable trays and light fittings. If applied at a later stage, a more extensive masking process must be completed which will add cost to the project.
