Lack of soundproofing can lead to stress, insomnia and hearing fatigue among employees. It is therefore crucial for a company to find solutions to improve soundproofing and create a pleasant working environment, and acoustic cabins can play an important role in this.
Regardless of the field of activity, protection against noise is an essential prerequisite for well-being in the workplace . It is first of all a question of determining the noise risks, of setting up insulating systems and above all of monitoring the measures to improve the company's productivity. This has the ultimate goal of creating both in offices and in shared work spaces, comfort that makes life easier for employees.
Special case of spaces allocated to telework
As mentioned above, good insulation is essential for well-being and productivity at work.
Although sound well-being is not a major criterion when setting up a professional space for telework, unlike the noisy open space which is the traditional workplace of companies, it is nevertheless important to s care about the well-being of professionals. Using acoustic furniture can help improve the sound quality of the work environment and provide a more pleasant and comfortable place for workers.
Indeed, in a space dedicated to telework, noise can come from inside or outside the house as well as from other parts of it. To provide a comfortable and productive working environment, protection against noise is crucial and requires special attention because acoustic comfort is paramount. It is priceless.
Improvements should therefore be made to this workspace; your health and performance depend on it.
But then, what noise level is it important not to exceed?
The optimum noise level to be respected
According to international regulations, the unit of sound measurement is the decibel (dB). In terms of occupational safety, noise greater than or equal to 80 dB is considered a hearing hazard. These conditions are most often experienced in industry and construction or public works companies.
In the specific case of the teleworking office, the sound environment should never exceed 50dB. To get a clear idea, note that a television emits about 70 dB representing its average sound level. If you work remotely, your living room is therefore not the ideal place to set up your workspace.
The main sources of noise pollution
Sounds from outside
In the design of a house, the insulation must be carefully thought out to protect against noise from the street or the neighborhood. This condition is a prerequisite for a good quality of life in your premises. By carrying out thermal insulation treatments as well as airtightness treatments, we generally take the opportunity to set up the sound insulation of the walls either from the inside or from the outside. This makes these operations less costly and the effectiveness of the acoustic treatment is maintained.
Sounds from internal spaces in the home
Teleworking from home is advantageous, but it is important to take certain precautions to avoid upsetting employees in the event of a teleconference, for example. Noise from the kitchen, living room or family members must be reduced enough to ensure a good professional experience at home. Your device choices and your family members' awareness of this cause are extremely important.
Internal sounds in the workspace
This other type of noise results from working situations in a space easily accessible to family members. The need to optimize the interior acoustic insulation of your teleworking space is unavoidable. Moreover, when you are newly installed in a fairly empty house, the echo or resonance effect gives you an unpleasant sound experience during your online work.
It is therefore important in all these cases of noise pollution to find appropriate solutions to ultimately achieve acoustic well-being in the workspace.
Effective solutions for the sound insulation of your premises
Your workplace is where you spend a large part of your life. For this reason, it becomes mandatory that a development or redevelopment of the workspace, puts well-being as a priority in different aspects: layout of the premises, optimal lighting and sound or acoustic comfort. Good acoustic insulation has interesting virtues for mental health at work. Indeed, it is known that an environment where noise reigns is conducive to the occurrence of stress, itself being involved in a drop in productivity of the employee in the company. Therefore, sound insulation is vital for the sustainable growth of the company. It can be considered at three main levels: the ceiling, the wall and the floor. Under certain conditions, sound insulation of windows is also an alternative.
Effective solutions for sound insulation
One of the most valuable choices to be made, and one that constitutes significant construction work, concerns the type.s of acoustic insulation.s to be adopted. For example, natural insulators such as mineral wool (rock wool or glass wool) are effective against airborne noise of internal or external origin. There are other less expensive solutions that are just as effective in reducing sound. It is therefore a question of installing a device qualified as an office partition. The latter serves on the one hand to absorb sounds and on the other hand to separate the workspace into open space. The partition is increasingly used in the case of boxes or individual cabins because it effectively reduces neighboring noise pollution. Given the wide variety of partitions on the market, you will always be spoiled for choice between several types for the office. There are partitions of the removable type, solid partitions, screen partitions, mobile acoustic partitions, double-glazed partitions and privacy boxes or cabins. if you also want to insulate your walls or ceilings, there are acoustic wall panels and acoustic ceiling panels. Similarly, islands and acoustic baffles can be hung while canvases can be stretched.
Let's go back in detail to some measures to take to ensure acoustic well-being in the office.
Improve acoustic comfort by soundproofing the walls
This work is generally the work of an acoustician. In order to reduce noise pollution to its simplest expression, your acoustician can proceed with the insulation of all the sides of your workspace identified as too noisy. these are, for example, the floor, the ceiling and also the walls.
The noise pollution transmitted via the ground is mainly footsteps and impact sounds. However, we also note the sounds of objects rolling on the floor of the upper floors. To remedy this uncomfortable situation, you can use a suitable carpet (density sufficient to reduce sound by 20 to 40 decibels).
Effective fight against noise pollution
Improve the ceiling to limit the transmission of airborne noise
Acoustic insulation also requires the use of furniture adapted to the ceilings. For example, the acoustic panel can be used to attenuate ambient sound. On the market, the designs of each panel are always more innovative by their solidity and their beauty on the one hand, but also and above all by their acoustic efficiency.
Use of the acoustic panel
As the name suggests, movable panels are freestanding acoustic devices. they allow the isolation of individual spaces and the reduction of ambient sound levels. These panels also have the particularity of allowing the creation of individual boxes or cabins, useful for the concentration of each professional on his objectives.
Use of the acoustic panel for walls
The wall acoustic panel allows excellent acoustic correction by avoiding the repercussion of sounds on the walls. This helps to effectively absorb noise.
Strategic choice of office location
Reducing the noise pollution caused by noise is essential in all cases. The location of the office can contribute to this end. Moving the latter away from preferential trading areas is therefore important. When the office is moved away from traffic areas such as entrances or colours, this helps to attenuate the sound during employee working hours.
Creation of sufficiently isolated meeting rooms
Your meeting rooms must be designed with acoustic comfort in mind: the reduction of noise from outside or inside must be carefully taken into account. We will then speak of so-called "outdoor" meeting rooms. They allow meetings to be held without disturbing other employees in their duties.
Establishment of silent spaces conducive to concentration
This is possible when you use devices such as soundproof cabins that are therefore free from any airborne noise and vibration. Under these conditions, employees are better concentrated in carrying out their tasks.
Keep noisy teams out
Employees whose job it is to have constant conversations (sales reps on the phone, HR manager, etc.) should have their own executives isolated from other members of your teams. The insulating partitions are used here to effectively attenuate interfering sounds.
Use of good insulating materials
This is a scientific action carried out after evaluation by an acoustician. The materials to be used depending on the case can be acoustic foam walls, rock or glass wool, etc.
Noise-canceling headset port
In certain working conditions, you can protect yourself from the harmful effects of noise pollution by wearing this dedicated helmet for good concentration on the task.
Use of acoustic furniture
As already mentioned above, the fight between noise pollution also involves the use of quality acoustic furniture. The latter will take many forms and can even contribute to the decoration of your office or workspace.
Choosing acoustic furniture: how to do it?
The choice of acoustic furniture is not random, it must above all respond to the particularity of the setting of your workspace. Thus we distinguish:
1. The decorative panel
Always choose the model you need. The decorative panel is fixed on the walls, and reduce the dispersion of sounds in your environment.
2. Acoustic partitions
These devices create an isolated environment for each employee and thus allow the latter to work peacefully.
3. Partitions
These are mini partitions that will help optimize sound insulation in the office.
These different solutions contribute to the well-being and concentration of the employee in his workplace. We then expect greater motivation and therefore better productivity.
Hearing being the only sense that almost never rests, it becomes imperative to take care of well-being in your workplace where you spend most of your life. Neglecting the negative impact of noise pollution or acoustic discomfort on the health of workers in an office is detrimental to your company's productivity. Fortunately, many solutions exist to ensure sound insulation and protect your employees and your business. Simply make the choice that offers you the best satisfaction at the lowest cost.
Every employee dreams of a peaceful workplace, pleasant for communication and well-being. To achieve this, optimal acoustic comfort is essential. The use of acoustic booths can help reduce harmful noises that can compromise the operation of the company as well as the health of the workers. Lack of soundproofing can lead to stress, insomnia and hearing fatigue among employees. It is therefore crucial for a company to find solutions to improve soundproofing and create a pleasant working environment, and acoustic cabins can play an important role in this.
