Reverberation analysis and acoustical modeling for improved acoustical conditions within modern workplace phone rooms

Abstract

As open office floor plans have grown popular, phone rooms have become important for staff to conduct personal conversations in private. Varying in acoustic and holistic design, these rooms are intended to both isolate the occupant’s speech from being heard by others in the office and reduce intrusive noise from disrupting these phone conversations. The acoustical properties within the rooms are often ignored, even though these spaces can have rather reverberant conditions and be subjectively very bothersome and awkward to converse within. Several types of porous absorption can help to control the acoustics of these phone rooms which are commonly implemented today. We have studied a variety of absorptive panel samples, placements, and coverage areas to test the effect of absorption in the phone rooms. We measured the reverberation time and impulse response of the rooms with various acoustical finishes to better understand the effectiveness of porous absorption to control the acoustics of these phone rooms.