How can I tell if the acoustics are bad in a conference room?

It is usually not that difficult to figure out if the acoustics in a conference room are bad. Such issues will manifest themselves in many ways. 

Reverberation

Reverberation becomes an issue when speech communication is echoed in the room. The sound bounces off the walls, as it were, which quickly makes it too loud in a conference room, especially when several people are speaking at the same time.

In large conference rooms, it is even possible for the sound waves to be reflected several times. If there are large reflective surfaces (for example, windows and glass partitions) facing each other, flutter echo will happen and become a problem. 

Speech intelligibility

The speaker is hard to understand as a result of reverberation and the meeting does not run as smoothly as it should. Meeting participants cannot hear certain things properly and the speaker has to raise his or her voice to remain intelligible. This, in turn, leads to excessive speech volume. 

Physical complaints

Do you come out of a meeting room with a headache? Do you and your colleagues spontaneously start raising your voices when you leave the room? Does the speaker’s voice become hoarse from having to speak too loudly? These are definite tell-tale signs that there is indeed something wrong with the acoustics in a conference room.

Audibility

It is not just about what is going on inside the conference room: if the acoustics are bad, people in adjacent rooms can often also hear what is being said. And then your meeting disrupts the rest of the office. 

Consequences of poor acoustics in a conference room

It goes without saying that poor sound quality in conference rooms has many drawbacks. Here are a few:

• Increased stress level: working in a poor acoustic environment creates additional stress.
• Reduced productivity: meetings take longer, which slows down the entire work process.
• Impact on health: employees suffer from headaches and other complaints when they spend too long in rooms with poor acoustics.
• No privacy: if the conference room is not sufficiently soundproofed, the rest of the office will listen in. 

This can be very chaotic, especially when many people are present. This is certainly not good for the office liveability.

How can DOX Acoustics remedy this? 

DOX Acoustics offers several solutions to improve liveability and speech intelligibility within your office environment. They will ensure that: 

• Your office’s work environment improves;
• Productivity takes off;
• Stress levels remain as low as possible;
• Holding meetings becomes an enjoyable experience once more!

Customised modular acoustic solutions

DOX Acoustics provides modular acoustic solutions to ensure privacy and speech intelligibility. By tackling reverberation, for example, the noise level in the conference room will decrease and meetings will no longer disrupt the rest of the office. 

Possible solutions include acoustic wall or ceiling panels: these will significantly improve the room acoustics of the conference room itself. In addition, it will be important to improve the soundproofing in relation to the adjacent rooms. Sound-insulating (glass) partitions are the ideal solution for this. They are supplied by DOX Soundproofing. 

ACaaS

Do you want to improve the acoustics of your conference room with the help of customised modular acoustic solutions? If so, Acoustics as a Service (ACaaS) is the perfect solution for you.

The acoustics of your office spaces and conference rooms are improved in a flexible way, without expensive investments. Our acoustic experts look for the best solutions tailored to your office. Together, we discuss all the challenges, the finish and your company’s wishes and needs. 

Looking for more information on the ways DOX Acoustics can improve your office work environment? Feel free to contact us!