Enhancing Office Environment Comfort: A Guide to Active Noise Cancellation, Space Zoning, and Acoustic Material Application
Release time:
2025-07-24 15:13
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When the combined noise of air conditioning and keyboard sounds in an open-plan office exceeds 55 dB(A), employee concentration drops by 15% within 30 minutes — this is the measured conclusion released by a team from the University of Rome in June 2025. Facing "noise anxiety" as a new workplace pain point, a combined strategy based on "active noise cancellation + spatial zoning + high-performance acoustic materials" is being implemented globally. The latest issue of the Acoustical Society of America conference proceedings provides a quantifiable operational template.
Space First: Zoning Stops Noise
Professor Sakuma from the University of Tokyo proposed in the new version of the daily room acoustics standard to use "equivalent absorption area per square meter of floor area" as a zoning indicator, dividing open office areas into three categories: "collaborative, semi-quiet, and deep quiet," with ceiling absorption increasing by 25% sequentially. This can reduce reverberation time to below 0.5 seconds and lower overall sound levels by 1 dB. The China Zun project in Beijing used the SoundPLAN noise simulation software during the planning phase to separate the printing area, phone booths, and quiet workstations by more than 15 meters, supplemented by green plant corridors as buffers, resulting in a measured peak noise reduction of 7 dB.
Professor Sakuma from the University of Tokyo proposed in the new version of the daily room acoustics standard to use "equivalent absorption area per square meter of floor area" as a zoning indicator, dividing open office areas into three categories: "collaborative, semi-quiet, and deep quiet," with ceiling absorption increasing by 25% sequentially. This can reduce reverberation time to below 0.5 seconds and lower overall sound levels by 1 dB. The China Zun project in Beijing used the SoundPLAN noise simulation software during the planning phase to separate the printing area, phone booths, and quiet workstations by more than 15 meters, supplemented by green plant corridors as buffers, resulting in a measured peak noise reduction of 7 dB.
Acoustic Materials: From "Soft" Furnishings to Hard Indicators
A team from the University of Bologna used desktop screens made with 3D-printed multi-resonant units, achieving up to 8 dB attenuation of speech signals in the 250–2000 Hz frequency band, 30% higher than traditional glass screens. The latest case in Beijing office buildings combined perforated ceiling panels, carpets, and soundproof mats, reducing the reverberation time in open-plan offices from 0.9 seconds to 0.4 seconds, with employees' subjective "quietness" perception improving by 40%. During on-site rapid verification, engineers used SonoCat multifunctional on-site sound absorption measurement equipment to complete the calibration of absorption coefficients at 200 measurement points within 20 minutes, ensuring material performance deviation from design values is less than 5%.
A team from the University of Bologna used desktop screens made with 3D-printed multi-resonant units, achieving up to 8 dB attenuation of speech signals in the 250–2000 Hz frequency band, 30% higher than traditional glass screens. The latest case in Beijing office buildings combined perforated ceiling panels, carpets, and soundproof mats, reducing the reverberation time in open-plan offices from 0.9 seconds to 0.4 seconds, with employees' subjective "quietness" perception improving by 40%. During on-site rapid verification, engineers used SonoCat multifunctional on-site sound absorption measurement equipment to complete the calibration of absorption coefficients at 200 measurement points within 20 minutes, ensuring material performance deviation from design values is less than 5%.
Active Noise Cancellation: From Headphones to Space-Level ANC
The IRCAM laboratory released the "ReNAR" project in April this year, which for the first time verified the "auditory cloak" algorithm at the building scale: by emitting inverse sound waves through a top array, mechanical noise below 500 Hz is further reduced by 4 dB while maintaining the pleasantness of the natural background soundscape. The University of Rome embedded active noise cancellation modules into phone booths, combined with ISO 22955 comfort indicators, controlling the indoor speech transmission index (STI) below 0.55, significantly improving call privacy.
The IRCAM laboratory released the "ReNAR" project in April this year, which for the first time verified the "auditory cloak" algorithm at the building scale: by emitting inverse sound waves through a top array, mechanical noise below 500 Hz is further reduced by 4 dB while maintaining the pleasantness of the natural background soundscape. The University of Rome embedded active noise cancellation modules into phone booths, combined with ISO 22955 comfort indicators, controlling the indoor speech transmission index (STI) below 0.55, significantly improving call privacy.
Dynamic Maintenance: Making Quietness Sustainable
The Architectural Institute of Japan is promoting a "quarterly acoustic checkup" system, requiring office buildings to retest noise curves every 90 days using standard procedures and compare them with the original SoundPLAN model; if the error exceeds 3 dB, rectification is triggered. Practice shows that this PDCA closed loop can keep employee complaints about the sound environment stable below 2%.
The Architectural Institute of Japan is promoting a "quarterly acoustic checkup" system, requiring office buildings to retest noise curves every 90 days using standard procedures and compare them with the original SoundPLAN model; if the error exceeds 3 dB, rectification is triggered. Practice shows that this PDCA closed loop can keep employee complaints about the sound environment stable below 2%.
Industry Perspective
"Noise control has entered the 'actuarial' era," said Professor Yan Xiang from the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University, who participated in formulating the new national standard. "Only by writing acoustic indicators into the design brief and continuously monitoring during the operation phase can the comfort of open-plan offices truly be restored to 'quiet cabin' levels."
"Noise control has entered the 'actuarial' era," said Professor Yan Xiang from the School of Architecture at Tsinghua University, who participated in formulating the new national standard. "Only by writing acoustic indicators into the design brief and continuously monitoring during the operation phase can the comfort of open-plan offices truly be restored to 'quiet cabin' levels."
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