Acoustic guide for non-public areas

Support focused work and effective meetings

Non-public areas support the daily work of healthcare staff, back-office and management functions, and complement clinical and specialist care environments.

Many administrative functions require conditions that support focus without interruption. Since fewer people have access to their very own cellular office, dedicated concentration spaces are essential. These spaces support focus work as well as telephone conversations, video conferences and small meetings.

At the same time, most people perform a variety of tasks throughout the day in open-plan environments – such as answering emails, preparing presentations, having quick discussions and moving between different activities. These environments therefore need to support both individual concentration and different forms of interaction, including telephone conversations, video conferences and meetings.

To have constructive meetings, it is important that we hear each other clearly; everybody should be able to easily follow and participate in the conversations, presentations and discussions. However, it is also important to prevent the sounds of the meeting from spreading to others in the office.

A meeting room is almost always furnished with equipment, such as humming projectors, a ventilation system, and speakers for video conferences. The conference room often consists of two glass walls and a third that has an obligatory whiteboard or screen. Speech will bounce off all these hard surfaces, creating late relexions that obscure speech.

Challenges

• Hinder wall-to-wall echoes
• Enhance speech clarity
• Appropriate sound insulation

Solutions

• Construct for good sound insulation (walls, doors) in cellular offices and focus areas
• Use a sound-absorbing ceiling to reduce noise levels and reverberation
• Add wall absorbers on two non-adjacent walls to improve speech clarity and reduce echoes

Acoustic considerations

• Wall-to-wall flutter echoes, sound insulation and speech clarity

Product recommendations

• Ecophon Focus
• Ecophon Master™
• Ecophon Hygiene™
• Ecophon Gedina™
• Ecophon Advantage™
• Ecophon Opta™
• Ecophon Sombra™
• Ecophon Super G™
• Ecophon Combison™
• Ecophon Saga™
• Ecophon Akusto™
• Ecophon Solo™
• Ecophon Clipso™