It almost seems like another age, but a common complaint of office workers was that the modern open-plan office was too noisy to get anything done. The constant hubbub of chatter, machinery, and telephones created a stream of interruptions that hampered our flow immeasurably.
It reached the point that several years ago research from the University of Illinois examined the ideal volume for us to be as productive as possible. They found that the 70 decibels provided by things like a television or a coffee shop is optimum.
This is compared to the 50 decibels we are surrounded by in a quiet environment, or the 80 decibels in a noisy environment such as next to a blender, both of which were less than optimum. The finding sounds counterintuitive, but the researchers believe that quiet environments allow us to focus too much on the task at hand, which then inhibits our creativity.
An ideal office
A recent study, from the University of Arizona Institute on Place, Wellbeing & Performance, suggests that the pandemic may have altered our sense of the ideal volume. Indeed, they suggest that the 50 decibels identified as a quiet environment, such as might exist in our home offices, is actually best.
“Everybody knows that loud noise is stressful, and, in fact, extremely loud noise is harmful to your ear,” the researchers explain. “But what was new about this is that with even low levels of sound—less than 50 decibels—the stress response is higher.”
They believe that their findings should encourage employers to consider the acoustics of their premises if they want to get the best out of their workforce and support their well-being. This last point is something they’re at pains to point out, as we often overlook the physiological health of the workforce.
Physiological well-being
“When we think about well-being, typically we think about emotional or mental well-being,” they explain. “We hardly ever consider the physiological well-being or the actual ‘what’s happening in our body,’ which is also important to understand when we’re continuously exposed to environmental factors such as sound.”
Their study builds upon previous work they conducted in 2018 into how open offices affect us. They found that while they can lead to greater activity during the day and lower stress levels at night than when we work in private offices, they nonetheless batter us with a barrage of noise.
That prompted them to conduct this latest study to try and understand what impact that noise had and the physiological reaction we have to typical office-based noise.
Measuring impact
The researchers quizzed a few hundred office workers across four sites, while also asking them to wear a couple of devices for three days. The first of these devices was worn around the neck and measured the sound levels in the wearer’s work environment. The second device was worn on the chest and measured the physiological stress and relaxation levels of the wearer.
The researchers monitored heart rate variability and ambient noise, then utilized mathematical modeling to investigate the impact of variations in sound levels on an individual’s physiological health. Participants were also queried via their smartphones to report their emotions at random intervals during the day.
The findings indicate that for workers in environments with sound levels over 50 decibels, a 10-decibel rise was linked to a 1.9% decline in physiological well-being. Conversely, in quieter office environments with sound levels below 50 decibels, a 10-decibel increase corresponded to a 5.4% improvement in physiological well-being.
These interesting findings are important because our tendency to get distracted is largely a stress response initiated in our brain to potential threats. By measuring the changes in sound the brain is capable of determining whether we enter fight or flight mode, which is perhaps why the low hum found in cafes can help us to fight off distractions as the sound is fairly constant.
“People are always working in coffee shops—those are not quiet spaces. But the reason you can concentrate there is because the sounds all merge to become background noise,” the researchers explain. “It masks sound that might be distracting. If you hear a pin drop when it’s very, very quiet, it will distract you from what you’re doing.”
The researchers believe that their findings could help facilities managers better design office spaces to ensure that employee well-being is maximized. They urge them to take heed of advice from acoustical engineers to ensure that relatively simple interventions are factored in to mitigate sound distraction in offices.
