Title Effects of Suspended Hemispherical Acoustic Absorbers on Speech Privacy in Open Plan Offices
Authors 김건희(Kim, Geon-Hee) ; 문완기(Moon, Wan-Ki) ; 안수경(An, Su-Kyeong) ; 장서진(Jang, Seo-Jin) ; 홍주영(Hong, Joo-Young)
DOI https://doi.org/10.5659/JAIK.2023.39.10.207
Page pp.207-215
ISSN 2733-6247
Keywords Open Plan Office; Speech Privacy; Suspended Hemispherical Acoustic Absorber; Architectural Acoustics Simulation; Room Acoustics
Abstract Recently, open plan office design has been increasingly adopted to improve communication and productivity of employees. However, some studies revealed that they can harm user satisfaction and speech privacy. Therefore, this study aims to utilize the ceiling-type hemispherical sound absorption system to enhance speech privacy in open plan offices by finding the optimal acoustic form. As design factors, the radius and absorption coefficients of the hemispherical acoustic absorbers were manipulated. The independent variable was modeled in nine cases by varying the radius (0.50 m, 0.75 m, 1.00 m) and sound absorption coefficients (0.10, 0.45, 0.80) of the hemispherical acoustic absorbers. Acoustic simulation was conducted to assess the effects of radius and sound absorption on speech privacy indicators (rP, rD, LpAS4m) for open plan offices. The results indicate that higher values of radius and absorption generally result in increased speech privacy for rD and rP. Specifically, there was a difference of 3.08 m for maximum rD and 7.40 m for rP. Regarding the enhancement of speech privacy, it was found that the radius of the absorber had a greater impact on speech privacy than sound absorption. Based on the results, the best speech privacy can be achieved when the radius was 1.00 m and the absorption coefficient was 0.80.