Effect of visual elements on Indoor soundscape perception in open-plan office

2021 ◽  
Vol 263 (1) ◽  
pp. 5161-5165
Author(s):  
Beta Bayu Santika ◽  
Hyun In Joo ◽  
Jin Yong Jeon
Keyword(s):  
Work Performance ◽  
Subjective Evaluation ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Work Productivity ◽  
Computer Software ◽  
Design Guideline ◽  
Visual Elements ◽  
3D Engine ◽  
Sound Environment ◽  
Open Plan

This study examined the effect of changes in visual elements on spatial comfort and work productivity in the aspect of indoor soundscape perception in the open-plan office (OPO) sound environment. Various OPO visual stimuli were simulated using computer software (Unity 3D engine) to change the visual environment by varying variables such as worker density, window ratio, green ratio, and ceiling height. An interactive virtual reality environment was implemented to perform a specific task while experiencing the audio-visual stimuli combining the general OPO noise stimulus and the simulated OPO visual stimulus. Subjective evaluation was performed on a total of 30 subjects to evaluate indoor soundscape quality and work performance for each stimulus. Based on the results of this study, a pleasant OPO design guideline was proposed. Keywords: Open-plan office, indoor soundscape, interactive VR test, spatial comfort

Just noticeable difference of sound pressure level of speech in open-plan office

2021 ◽  
Vol 263 (1) ◽  
pp. 5166-5169
Author(s):  
Haram Lee ◽  
Hyunin Jo ◽  
Jin Yong Jeon
Keyword(s):  
Sound Pressure Level ◽  
Sound Pressure ◽  
Paired Comparison ◽  
Subjective Evaluation ◽  
Simulation Models ◽  
Pressure Level ◽  
Just Noticeable Difference ◽  
Sound Sources ◽  
Sound Environment ◽  
Open Plan

In this study, the general sound environment characteristics of open-plan office (OPO) were investigated, and just noticeable difference (JND) of sound pressure level of speech at a distance of 4 m (Lp,A,S,4m) suggested in ISO 3382-3 was suggested. First, in order to understand the sound environment characteristics of OPO, one minute sound sources recorded in 8 offices were collected and physical and psychological acoustic characteristics were analyzed. A total of 30 office workers were subject to subjective evaluation on 8 sound sources, and they were asked to respond to questionnaires related to annoyance, work satisfaction, and speech privacy. Next, to investigate the JND, two computer simulation models identical to those of the actual OPO were implemented, and sound sources each having six different Lp,A,S,4m values were generated through the change of the sound absorption coefficient of the interior finish. The JND of Lp,A,S,4m was presented by performing paired comparison for the same subjects. It is expected that the JND of Lp,A,S,4m proposed in this study can be used for the sound environment rating of OPO.

The effect of sound masking on employees' acoustic comfort and performance in open-plan offices in Canada

2021 ◽  
Vol 263 (1) ◽  
pp. 5678-5683
Author(s):  
Roderick Mackenzie ◽  
Joonhee Lee ◽  
Vincent Le Men ◽  
Farideh Zarei
Keyword(s):  
Work Performance ◽  
Signal To Noise Ratio ◽  
Sound Level ◽  
Sound Levels ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Acoustic Comfort ◽  
Sound Environment ◽  
Open Plan ◽  
Sound Masking ◽  
And Performance

Sound masking systems are commonly used in open-plan offices to generate a controlled minimum level of background sound, in order to decrease the signal-to-noise ratio of intrusive speech and blend out transient office noise. However, a question in the acoustical design of offices is whether the self-generated noise of occupants may alone be sufficient to provide the background sound level conditions necessary to achieve similar levels of speech privacy and acoustic comfort as sound masking systems. This study examines the relationship between occupant-perceived speech privacy and acoustic comfort under three different acoustic scenarios (no masking, controlled 42 dBA, and 47 dBA masking sound levels). The study was conducted pre-COVID-19 in two separate open-plan offices located in Quebec, Canada that at the time were close to full occupancy. Employees completed subjective questionnaires before and after each change in conditions, focusing on how the sound environment impacted their comfort and work performance during the study. Statistical results show that the occupants were significantly more satisfied during the two sound masking conditions in comparison to the no-masking condition, where only the occupant-generated and exterior/mechanical system noise was present as the background sound. Implications for open-plan offices with lower occupancy conditions post-COVID-19 are discussed.

scholarly journals The Perceptual Organisation of Visual Elements: Lines

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1585
Author(s):  
Liliana Albertazzi ◽  
Luisa Canal ◽  
Rocco Micciolo ◽  
Iacopo Hachen
Keyword(s):  
Subjective Evaluation ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Semantic Differential ◽  
The Other ◽  
Sharp Bound ◽  
Line Segments ◽  
Variable Type ◽  
Visual Elements ◽  
Perceptual Characteristics ◽  
Straight Lines

The aim of this study is to verify the conditions under which a series of visual stimuli (line segments) will be subjectively perceived as visual lines or surfaces employing four experiments. Two experiments were conducted with the method of subjective evaluation of the line segments, and the other two with the Osgood semantic differential. We analysed five variables (thickness, type, orientation, and colour) potentially responsible for the lines’ categorisation. The four experiments gave similar results: higher importance of the variables thickness and type; general lower significance of the variable colour; and general insignificance of the variable orientation. Interestingly, for the variable type, straight lines are evaluated as surfaces more frequently than curved lines and perceived as geometrical, flat, hard, static, rough, sharp, bound, sour, frigid, masculine, cold and passive. Curved lines are prevalently evaluated as lines, and categorised as organic, rounded, soft, dynamic, fluffy, blunt, free, sweet, sensual, feminine, warm and active. These results highlight the specificity of perceptual characteristics for the considered variables and confirm the relevance of the characteristics of variables such as thickness and type.

Measurement survey using acoustic measurement network and sound environment evaluation system by experience sampling

2021 ◽  
Vol 263 (1) ◽  
pp. 5063-5070
Author(s):  
Kengo Togashi ◽  
Akiko Sugahara ◽  
Yasuhiro Nagasawa ◽  
Yasuhiro Hiraguri ◽  
Kazunori Harada ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Evaluation System ◽  
Experience Sampling ◽  
Individual Characteristics ◽  
Working Environment ◽  
Sound Environment ◽  
Open Plan ◽  
Trial Basis ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Intellectual Productivity ◽  
The Impact

The use of open-plan offices is increasing as they are effective in improving intellectual productivity by fostering a communication among workers. Previous research on the relationship between the indoor sound environment and intellectual productivity has mostly reported the impact of the sound environment on the tasks that individuals work on. However, there has been no research on the impact of sound environment on office spaces where multiple workers are actually working. In this study, we developed a system that can analyze the individual characteristics of workers in relation to the sound environment by simultaneously measuring their evaluation to the sound environment and the sound environment of the office. The system collected workers' evaluation of their impressions to the sound environment through a regular questionnaire using the experience sampling method. At the same time, it measured the sound environment of the office with multiple small measurement devices. The obtained sound environment evaluation data and the acoustic data of the office were stored in a single database. Finally, this system was run in a working environment to evaluate the sound environment on a trial basis.

Sound environment quality in nursing units in Chinese nursing homes: A pilot study

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 283-298
Author(s):  
Hui Xie ◽  
Bingzhi Zhong ◽  
Chang Liu
Keyword(s):  
Nursing Homes ◽  
Nursing Staff ◽  
Noise Level ◽  
Background Noise ◽  
Subjective Evaluation ◽  
Reverberation Time ◽  
Staff Members ◽  
Background Noise Level ◽  
Sound Environment ◽  
Nursing Station

Recent studies have investigated sound environment in nursing homes. However, there has been little research on the sound environment of nursing units. This research sought to address this gap. Subjective evaluations were gathered using questionnaire surveys of 75 elderly residents and 30 nursing staff members in five nursing units of five nursing homes in Chongqing, China. Background noise level and reverberation time were measured in five empty bedrooms, five occupied bedrooms and five occupied nursing station areas, in five nursing units. The subjective evaluation results indicate that the residents stay in the nursing units for most of their waking hours. The residents and nursing staff had strong preferences for natural sounds, with the lowest perceptions of these in the nursing units. The background noise level in all the occupied bedrooms exceeded Chinese standards for waking and sleeping hours. Only 20% of the occupied nursing station areas were below the allowable noise level for recreation and fitness room during sleeping hours. The nursing station area was identified as the main source of noise in the unit during waking hours. The average background noise level of the occupied bedrooms was 3–12 dBA higher than that of the empty bedrooms during sleeping hours. Attention should be given to the implementation of noise specifications for sleeping hours. The reverberation time of the bedrooms was within the range of 0.44–0.68 s, and in the nursing station areas it was 0.63–1.54 s.

Familiarity with images affects how dogs (Canis familiaris) process life-size video projections of humans

2018 ◽  
Vol 71 (6) ◽  
pp. 1457-1468
Author(s):  
Péter Pongrácz ◽  
András Péter ◽  
Ádám Miklósi
Keyword(s):  
Search Task ◽  
Visual Stimuli ◽  
Target Object ◽  
Important Conclusion ◽  
Motion Cues ◽  
Visual Elements ◽  
Video Images ◽  
Object Search ◽  
Actual Content ◽  
Video Presentations

A central problem of behavioural studies providing artificial visual stimuli for non-human animals is to determine how subjects perceive and process these stimuli. Especially in the case of videos, it is important to ascertain that animals perceive the actual content of the images and are not just reacting to the motion cues in the presentation. In this study, we set out to investigate how dogs process life-sized videos. We aimed to find out whether dogs perceive the actual content of video images or whether they only react to the videos as a set of dynamic visual elements. For this purpose, dogs were presented with an object search task where a life-sized projected human was hiding a target object. The videos were either normally oriented or displayed upside down, and we analysed dogs’ reactions towards the projector screen after the video presentations, and their performance in the search task. Results indicated that in the case of the normally oriented videos, dogs spontaneously perceived the actual content of the images. However, the ‘Inverted’ videos were first processed as a set of unrelated visual elements, and only after some exposure to these videos did the dogs show signs of perceiving the unusual configuration of the depicted scene. Our most important conclusion was that dogs process the same type of artificial visual stimuli in different ways, depending on the familiarity of the depicted scene, and that the processing mode can change with exposure to unfamiliar stimuli.

scholarly journals Indicador de rendimiento laboral del usuario-trabajador de oficina en período de verano de clima templado cálido

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 44-57
Author(s):  
Yesica Alamino-Naranjo ◽  
◽  
Alcion Alonso-Frank
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Variables ◽  
Work Performance ◽  
Performance Indicator ◽  
Office Building ◽  
Design Phase ◽  
Summer Period ◽  
Office Space ◽  
Methodological Tool ◽  
Open Plan ◽  
The City

The purpose of this work was to develop a methodological tool to evaluate office space work performance during the summer period. The proposed tool is an optimal work performance indicator called IRLO, which combines environmental variables on thermal, air quality, visual and acoustic influence. Integrated measurements were run for its development alongside surveys to users-workers of an office building in the city of San Juan - Argentina. The results reveal the preference ranges of each variable, recognizing that in open plan offices, there is a greater environmental adaptive capacity than in closed plan offices. It is concluded, that the indicator stands out by providing a basis to identify work performance considering environmental variables that should, in the future, be considered in the design phase.

scholarly journals 0453 Longitudinal Relationship Between Insomnia and Work Productivity in Japanese City Government Employees

SLEEP ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 43 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. A174-A174
Author(s):  
H Kadotani ◽  
K Ito ◽  
A Matsuda ◽  
K Nishikawa ◽  
Y Sumi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Work Performance ◽  
Pearson Correlation ◽  
Work Productivity ◽  
Participation Rate ◽  
Severity Index ◽  
City Government ◽  
Government Employees ◽  
Actual Performance ◽  
Japanese City ◽  
Full Capacity

Abstract Introduction “Presenteeism” refers to the decrease in productivity in employees who are present but not functioning at full capacity due to illness or other medical conditions. It is reported that the cost of presenteeism to businesses is 10 times higher than absenteeism (away from work due to illness or disability). Relative presenteeism is a ratio of actual performance to the performance of most workers at the same job. We analyzed effects of insomnia and depression two years before on presenteeism in a Japanese working population. Methods Questionnaire survey was conducted as a part of a cohort study named “Night in Japan Home Sleep Monitoring Study (NinJaSleep Study)” in 2016 and 2018. Participants were the city government employees in a rural city in Shiga prefecture, Japan. Presenteeism, insomnia and depression were analyzed by WHO-HPQ (Health and Work Performance Questionnaire), ISI (insomnia severity index) and PHQ-9 (Patient Depression Questionnaire), respectively. Pearson correlation coefficient analyses were performed to determine the strength of the association between two variables. Logistic regression was performed to estimate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of poor relative presenteeism (the lowest tertile of the relative presenteeism scores) after 2-year follow up. Results 1143 subjects (participation rate: 61.7%, 36.7% male, 44.5±11.4 years, BMI: 22.3±3.30) participated in both 2016 and 2018. Participants with poor productivity (poor relative presenteeism) in 2018 was significantly associated with ISI in 2016 (OR: 1.050, 95%CI: 1.010-1.090, p=0.013) but not with PHQ-9 in 2016 (OR: 1.008, 95%CI: 0.972-1.045, p=0.664) after adjusting for age, gender and BMI. Positive correlation was found between the total score of ISI and item 3 of PHQ-9 which asks insomnia or hypersomnia symptom (r=0.6122, P<0.0001). Conclusion Insomnia may be an independent risk factor for poor presenteeism. ISI may be useful to predict poor productivity in the future. Support Supported in part by a research grant from Investigator-Initiated Studies Program of Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. / MSD K.K. The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. / MSD K.K.”

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