Control noise with space dividers

Although open-plan offices facilitate staff interaction it often takes time for people to get used to open working environment after years of working in separate rooms.

Noise control is one of the challenges associated with open-plan premises. Employees moving around in the office will generate noise and cause other disturbances which must be considered in designing the spaces. Even normal everyday work sounds may prove challenging in open-plan offices. Since most of the sounds originate from the users or their activities, it is necessary to also provide employees with proper guidelines when moving to new kinds of premises.

In space division, ‘space dividers’ are increasingly understood as elements guiding the passage of persons in the premises, as necessitated by, among other things, the aforementioned challenges faced by contemporary office environments. In open-plan offices, areas can be divided with various screens or storage solutions or by placing common-use seating groups between spaces, for example. Privacy can be enhanced with various solutions, among them desk screens with acoustic properties placed on the desktop. Low cabinets can be fitted with upward extension pieces to prevent speaking sounds causing disturbances in the working area.

Space dividers should have the best-possible sound absorption properties. These properties should be verified or measured, for example. Successful noise abatement is significantly more dependent on the overall set-up of different products than the use of an individual material. Therefore it is worth planning these solutions carefully with professional help.