Noise effect on comfort in open-space offices: development of an assessment questionnaire

Abstract

It is currently accepted that noise is one of the most important annoyance factors in open-space offices. However, noise levels measured in open spaces of the tertiary sector rarely exceed 65 dB(A). It, therefore, appears necessary to develop a tool that can be used to assess the noise environment of these offices and identify the parameters to be taken into consideration when assessing the noise annoyance. This article presents a questionnaire to be filled by people working in such environment, and a case study in different open plan offices. The majority of the 237 respondents consider that the ambient noise level in their environment is high and that intelligible conversations between their colleagues represent the main source of noise annoyance. This annoyance was significantly correlated with their evaluation of sound intensity, which could not be represented by A-weighted level measurements.

Abstract

Practitioner Summary: This article presents a short questionnaire aimed to evaluate the employees' comfort in an open-plan office and to propose optimal modifications of the office. Answers collected from 237 respondents showed that intelligible conversations represent the main source of noise annoyance; moreover, overall noise level is not related to this annoyance.

Keywords::

• office ergonomics
• ergonomics tools and methods
• perception
• hearing
• sound and noise

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Funding

This project was funded by ANSES (Agence nationale de se´curite´ sanitaire, de l'alimentation, de l'environnement et du travail), in the frame of the Environment-Health-Work Program, with the support of Governmental Offices for Environment and Work. A major portion of the work was conducted within the CeLyA (Centre Lyonnais d'Acoustique) [ANR-10-LABX-60] research network.