- Background sound/vibration levels – Numerous studies show that noise directly impacts a company’s bottom line by decreasing worker productivity. This is not just a problem of factory workers exposed to high machinery sound levels. Workers in the office environment, especially in open plan or “cubicle farm” layouts, have lower productivity and increased stress from constant distraction. Conversational sound is the most significant noise distraction, with other sources such as HVAC system noise, computers, and phones ringing also contributing.
- Sound Isolation – Sometimes private conversations need to remain private. Human resource issues and employee performance reviews are just a couple of examples where speech privacy is critical. Even when speech privacy is not critical, it is important to create acoustical isolation between spaces. Conference rooms and private offices need isolation from adjacent spaces to not only prevent others outside these rooms from listening in, but also to keep unwanted extraneous sounds out.
- Reverberation – Excess reverberation often causes speech intelligibility problems in conference rooms, especially those that utilize teleconferencing or videoconferencing systems. Critical project decisions are being made on a daily basis in conference spaces and it would be unfortunate if the accuracy and understanding of those decisions were compromised by poor acoustics. Similar to a classroom environment, excess reverberation within a conference room can also cause fatigue and loss of interest among the meeting participants. Excess reverberation is even more important to an open plan office environment where the use of hard, sound reflective surfaces creates a noisy working environment. A noisy work environment decreases worker productivity and directly impacts a company’s bottom line. High reverberation times are also a problem in lobbies, where private/public interactions rely on speech intelligibility
- Audiovisual Systems – AV systems are used more and more for multimedia presentations, sound reinforcement, and teleconferencing and videoconferencing. These systems have become integral to coordination and will save money on costly travel and time expenditures
Industrial/Construction Applications
Industrial and construction equipment is almost always noisy. Stamping, hammering, welding, cutting, pressing, and moving materials are just a few of the activities that generate high sound levels. Read More >>
Noise and Vibration Control
Control of background sound and vibration levels is important in every building from concert halls and recording studios, to classroom and office buildings. Read More >>
Environmental Acoustics
Noise from the outside environment can be very disruptive to any building, therefore the need for proper acoustical separation from outside environments is key to any building. Read More >>