Strategies for Conquering Workplace Acoustical Issues

 Sound absorption is a key element of workplace acoustics. The ceiling can play a big role here—baffles, stretched fabric, cellulose spray and even acoustic light panels can be great solutions. Courtesy of NELSON Worldwide.

Admit it: we’ve been spoiled.  

While it had its obvious challenges, working from home lowered (or perhaps raised?) our tolerance for noise. And if it did raise it, that’s not necessarily a good thing. 

“Hearing health conservation has become a really big theme in one of our latest beta features in the WELL rating system that focuses on audiology tests and how your employees’ hearing health is potentially deteriorating over time and how to manage that,” explained Ethan Bourdeau, sound concept lead at the International WELL Building Institute—where acoustics has been an integral part of achieving the WELL standard as early as version 1 of the program.  

While the concern is already regulated by OSHA for the industrial sector, it’s quickly becoming a potential health risk in corporate and even education settings as well, where users are (or may soon be) attached to headsets for sometimes eight hours a day.  

Furthermore, we’re starting to confront a new frontier in office design that has a variety of implications: “Our workspaces are broadcasting studios in a sense,” said Danijel Pocanic, regional design leader for NELSON Worldwide. “Because everything we do now has to be translated through a technology to other people and it’s often through video and audio. So, you have to be super aware of how you sound to other people as well as being able to hear other people clearly—because it’s something that is supporting your message.”