Exploring the potential of non-traditional sound absorbers to improve acoustic quality in open-plan offices

Open-plan offices are designed to promote collaboration and communication between workers, but they can be noisy and distracting, where irrelevant speech is one of the main causes of dissatisfaction and annoyance. To address the problem, synthetic sound absorbers are often used as one of the possible acoustic measures. However, these materials are typically derived from petrochemicals, demanding considerable energy for production, which conflicts with global agenda for decarbonization and circularity. Alternatively, non-traditional sound absorbers can replace synthetic ones, aiming to enhance acoustic quality in open-plan offices. In the present study, a real open-plan office was measured according to ISO 3382-3:2022, and the data was used to calibrate a room model in ODEON. Computer simulations were conducted to evaluate the room with different synthetic and non-traditional sound absorbers. It was observed that the non-traditional sound absorbers can attenuate office noise as effectively as synthetic sound absorbers, and improve acoustic quality criteria recommended by ISO 22955:2021. Auralizations were then conducted to assess the participants' auditory perception through a listening test with both types of sound absorbers. The ongoing listening test aims to determine whether the sustainable nature of non-traditional sound absorbers positively influences subjective experiences compared to their synthetic counterparts.