Acoustics in collaborative open office environments

Historically, acoustical design for open office environments focuses on creating workspaces that maximize speech privacy and minimize aural distractions. Hallmark elements of the traditional open office environment include barriers, sound-absorptive surfaces, and consideration of workspace orientation, size, and background sound level. In recent years, development of “collaborative” office environments has been desired, which creates an open work setting, allowing immediate visual and aural communication between team members. This results in reducing the size of workstations, lowering barriers, and reducing distance between occupants. Additionally, group meeting areas have also become more open, with the popularization of “huddle zones” where small groups hold meetings in an open space adjacent to workstations rather than within enclosed conference rooms. Historically, this type of office environment would have poor acoustical function, with limited speech privacy between workstations and minimal attenuation of distracting noises, leading to occupant complaints. However, these collaborative open office environments function satisfactorily and seem to be preferred by occupants and employers alike. This paper investigates the physical acoustical parameters of collaborative open office spaces.