We regularly receive phone calls regarding closed office privacy concerns. The acoustical challenges of an open office environment are manifold, but crosstalk between closed office spaces can be just as distracting. Typically, when these calls come in, we have a standard list of questions that we ask the potential clients about their current environment to try to get an understanding of why they feel they have no privacy between closed offices.

It isn’t uncommon to learn that the problem has been ongoing and that they have tried numerous fixes that just don’t seem to work. The callers are frustrated at the situation, their contractors, and their office space – and rightfully so.

There are numerous reasons why you may have poor privacy between private offices, but I want to address one of the more common reasons, along with the corresponding acoustical myth and the improper fix.

“If I was a betting man…” “If I had a nickel for every time…” We’ve all heard these clichés and know them well. Acousticians making a site visit regarding poor privacy between closed offices know how to play the odds on this one. In this situation, it’s a safe bet that the interior walls do not extend up above the drop ceiling, and that can be one of the biggest detriments to closed office privacy. Have you ever wondered what is above your acoustical drop ceiling? This area contains the typical components required to keep your building operating safely and efficiently: mechanical equipment, electrical and communications equipment, fire safety systems, and so on.

One of the biggest cost saving compromises made during construction is to build walls that only extend to the acoustical drop ceiling. After all, why would you need a wall above a ceiling when you can’t see it? Well, this simple decision to reduce construction costs just cost you a lot of your privacy. Walls that only extend to the ceiling plane, of course, cannot block any sound that enters the ceiling plenum. The private conversations and confidential decisions made in closed offices flank over the walls, through the ceiling plenum, and into the surrounding offices.

“So what’s the quick fix, just extend my wall above the ceiling?” I wish it was that easy, but remember all those required systems that are above the ceiling tile? Yep, they are now in the way, and the cost, time, and difficulty required to work around them goes “through the roof” because you are already in a built environment often making this fix infeasible.

“Come on, we have zero budget for this and need it solved now. What if we just rolled a bunch of insulation out above our ceiling tiles?” Here it is, pay attention now. I promised a myth and improper fix, didn’t I? Well, this is it. Soft, fuzzy, fibrous materials that we use to absorb sound actually do a terrible job of blocking sound. Materials that are hard and dense are actually required for blocking noise. The most common improper fix we see in the field is to roll out a bunch of insulation above the ceiling tiles. I can create a very long list of clients who testify that this does not actually solve the problem, and most often, it hardly makes a “noticeable” increase in office privacy.

The truth is that there isn’t a quick fix for privacy between closed offices. As previous blog posts have mentioned, there are multiple design issues that can impact privacy in the office environment. Even a well qualified and experienced acoustical consultant cannot solve the problem over the phone. Every situation is unique, and on site measurements and analysis are almost always required. As consultants, our goal is to provide you with several options that will legitimately fix your privacy problems and get you back to work without worries. Thus, each solution is customized to fit your needs.

In a perfect world, contractors would build interior office walls all the way up to the roof deck from the start. It’s one simple way to stop your office privacy concerns before they go “through the roof!”

Tags: Acoustic Consultant, Acoustic Design, Acoustical Consultant, Acoustical Design, Noise Control, Noise Isolation, Office, Sound Measurement, Sound Study

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 26th, 2009 at 9:26 am and is filed under Office. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.