In the corporate world of hybrid employment and the battle for talent, a good office is no longer measured by size, location, or design. Today, the key difference is how it sounds.
Noise – an invisible risk with a real business cost
Office noise is not a new problem, but its effect on productivity is more noticeable today than ever before. After the pandemic and long periods of working from home, employees are returning to offices that often do not meet their new sensory expectations. More than 70% of them say they have become more sensitive to noise in the work environment (Steelcase, 2024).
The reason is not subjective—it is a neurobiological fact. The brain, adapted to the silence of the home environment, has difficulty filtering out competing audio stimuli, which leads to:
- Decrease in concentration;
- Higher levels of fatigue;
- Irritation and stress;
The strongest irritant: intelligible human speech. It directly competes with cognitive task processing, reducing productivity by up to 15% (Hongisto et al., 2017). Research by Yadav et al. (2025) shows that the perceived lack of acoustic privacy is the strongest indicator of dissatisfaction with the office environment.
The acoustic environment as a factor in retaining talent
The office is not just a physical space, but a tool for engaging, retaining, and activating employees. If it does not provide a suitable environment for focus, employees will simply stay at home.
Research by Gensler (2024) shows that focus, rather than socialization, is the main reason people return to the office. Additional data from LinkedIn and Robin shows that over 60% of employees avoid the office on days when they have work that requires concentration.
How do you create an acoustically intelligent office?
It starts with standards. It continues with expertise. Creating an acoustically effective office does not happen intuitively or with "sound-absorbing panels by eye." International standards set clear and measurable criteria for assessing the sound environment in open-plan offices. ISO 3382-3 and ISO 22955 are the two leading standards used worldwide to assess acoustic comfort in open-plan offices. They introduce objective indicators such as:
- Speech Transmission Index (STI): how clearly speech is perceived at a distance;
- Distraction distance (rd): how far a conversation is distracted;
- Privacy Distance / Privacy Index: the degree of sound privacy;
- Decay Rate of Speech: the rate at which speech fades with distance.
These measurements are a mandatory first step when planning a new office or optimizing an existing space. In practice, the best results are achieved when measurements are performed by experienced specialists with the appropriate equipment—companies such as Acoustic Force, which can analyze and interpret the results in the context of real office dynamics and offer effective solutions.
Masking systems – the modern weapon against intelligible speech
While most projects focus on sound absorption, the greatest impact on acoustic comfort often comes from so-called sound masking systems. These are smart technologies that add background, continuous noise, which is not intended to interfere, but to mask intelligible speech—the main source of distraction in an office environment.
The masking system is not just "white noise." Modern solutions are:
- Adaptive: automatically adjust the sound level and spectrum to the environment;
- Zoned: divide the office into controllable zones for fine tuning;
- Scientifically designed: with a specific spectral profile tailored to the characteristics of human speech.
Research shows that a well-designed masking system can reduce the dispersion radius by over 50% and increase the feeling of privacy by over 40% (Yadav et al., 2025).
Experienced acoustic consultants know that the effectiveness of these technologies depends on their precise integration into the space. Expertise is crucial here – from the initial acoustic audit to the selection of a specific technology, its fine tuning, and subsequent verification against standards.
Silence as cultural capital
In an economy where knowledge and concentration are key resources, silence is not the absence of sound—it is a prerequisite for meaningful work. Companies that invest in acoustic comfort don't just reduce noise—they build a culture of respect and strategic trust. A good office is no longer measured in decibels—it's measured in the team's ability to think, create, and interact without barriers.
