Noise annoyance in open-plan study environments

Noise is one of the most annoying factors in open-plan offices, and has a disrupting effect on cognitive performance. Most students in higher education in the Netherlands work regularly in open-plan work environments. However, there is a lack of research on the acoustics of open study environments. The aim of this research is to discover the relation between the perception of noise and the acoustic design of open-plan study environments. Three open-plan study environments were examined. Interviews, observations and questionnaires were used to identify and characterize student activities in open-plan study environments and how they are affected by noise. Data show that 40% of the students are disturbed by noise. The noise, in particular intelligible and non-intelligible speech, is disruptive for complex cognitive tasks like writing essays and comprehensive reading. As a next step, measurements will be done to determine the time-averaged sound pressure levels in the occupied study environments. Furthermore, parameters will be computed that allow to characterize the acoustic environment (STI, rD, rP, D2,S, Lp,A,S,4m, Lp,A,B, T60). Statistical analyses will be used to determine the relation between the different parameters and the perceived noise. The results of these analyses will be presented at the conference.