The Sound Bubble : An Aesthetic Additive Design Approach to Actively Enhance Acoustic Office Environments

• Moving towards more open and collaborative workplaces has been an emerging trend in the last decades. This change has led to workers sharing a common open space, with seating’s based on current activity, so called activity-based offices. Consequently, it becomes difficult to design sonic environments that cater to different needs in the same space. In this study we explored the possibility of adding site-specific but location-adaptive sound environments to enhance the experience of an activity-based office workplace. For this purpose, we developed the concept of the “sound bubble,” a micro-space in which the user is embedded by a semi-transparent sound environment. The purpose of the bubble is to help the user ignore irrelevant and disturbing noise while working in an open landscape. The sound bubble supports the user to stay in “everyday listening” mode, i.e., not focusing on anything particular in the surrounding environment while being able to keep a link with it. The sound bubble was evaluated by a total of 43 test subjects participating in an experience-based test, conducting their usual work tasks in an office landscape. Our results show that the sound bubble can enhance auditory work conditions for individual work requiring concentration.

Nyckelord

Acoustic design

sound design

sonic interactive design

sonic micro-milieu

sound bubble

site-specific designed ambience.

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