Speech Privacy in Adaptable Workspaces

AIA Course #: HAW800 - HSW
Programming & Analysis
IDCEC Course #: 106845 – HSW
Subject Code: 5. Technical Knowledge/1. Acoustics

To request this CEU delivered in-person or virtually, please contact your A&D Representative.

What are your client’s expectations of the acoustics of a space? What does “Good Acoustics” mean, in each functional area? Privacy? Intelligibility? Minimized distraction? Sense of activity? What acoustic challenges exist in your current space that need to be addressed?

This 1-hour course will review the principles of acoustics as a science, offer examples of how to use key design tools for office interiors, and describe the key factors that define the user experience of speech privacy.

• Identify the primary factors prompting the need for speech privacy.
• Distinguish between speech intelligibility and speech privacy, and understand how signal-to-noise ratio, privacy index and sound frequency relate.
• Name the four key design tools that can be deployed to ensure speech privacy is achieved.
• Identify the performance properties of the key construction elements that are necessary to ensure privacy is achieved.
• Examine real world applications of workplace design that incorporate speech privacy.