Effect of background noise on speech privacy

Abstract

There is a need for speech privacy in many building environments, which is often affected by various factors such as human perception, acoustic separation of partitions, and background noise levels. Previous studies have classified speech privacy rating between spaces based on partition separation and internal noise in receiving spaces. However, the typical design process often overlooks a holistic approach to speech privacy. Green buildings, focused on sustainability, have recently gained global attention. They aim to reduce environmental impact while ensuring comfort and health for occupants through energy-efficient HVAC systems, sustainable insulation, and low emissivity glazing. Despite their benefits, energy-efficient HVAC systems can emit minimal noise levels. The low internal noise levels in green buildings can often adversely affect the speech privacy rating between spaces. The Green Building Council of Australia have recently addressed the requirement of speech privacy by introducing the need for minimum internal noise levels in the Green Star Buildings, in addition to the acoustic separation requirements between spaces. This paper aims to investigate the need for minimum internal noise levels to address the requirement of speech privacy holistically rather than addressing acoustic separation and internal noise levels as individual components of acoustic design.