Effect of Variation in Noise Absorption in Open-plan Office: a Field Study with a Cross-Over Design
Regular paper
Saint-Gobain Ecophon
Tuesday 2 june, 2015, 14:00 - 14:20
0.9 Athens (118)
Abstract:
Noise has repeatedly been shown being one of the most recurrent reasons for
complains in open-plan office environments. However, the studies investigating
the impact of noise on people are either conducted in laboratories with low
ecological validity or have a simple design with low predictive validity. The
aim of the present study is to investigate if repeated changes between better
and less good room acoustics characteristics in open-plan office environments
can improve respectively deteriorate employees health and performance. Employees
on two different floors (N = 137) were followed as three shifts were made in
room acoustics on each of the two floors. For one of the floors the changes were
better – less good – better acoustical condition while for the other floor the
changes were less good – better – less good acoustical condition. Two week after
each change surveys were gathered from the employees. In addition objective
measures were gathered according to the new ISO-standard 3382-3: 2012 for open-
plan. The objective measured revealed small changes between the two condition at
each floor and the analysis of survey data, carried out through means of
repeated MANCOVAs, showed that the better acoustical condition impact employees
self-rated perception of disturbances and cognitive stress, but not personal
efficiency.