Objective and subjective assessment of acoustics in open-plan offices

The acoustic condition in open-plan offices can significantly affect the work performance and job satisfaction.The main problem in this case is mostly the noise caused by co-workers and intensified by suboptimal roomacoustics. To fully assess this complex acoustic scene and to relate it to subjective perception, it is importantto use aurally-accurate measurement methods as well as to consider psychoacoustic parameters, which containinformation on the temporal and spectral structure of the noise and sound environment. Furthermore, mea-surements are conducted in the daily working condition in the presence of the workers (in situ) which differssignificantly to the noise generated by the building measured in the absence of the working people. This worksprovides an overview on the acoustic settings in German open-plan offices using objective measures, such asroom acoustic parameters and psychoacoustic parameters, considering aurally-accurate assessment measured insitu and in silence. Additionally, these results are linked to the subjective perception assessed using question-naires in parallel.