An open office can look perfectly designed and still be difficult to work in.
The problem is often invisible: sound. Conversations travel, calls overlap, and background speech competes for attention throughout the day. Research suggests that exposure to intelligible background speech can reduce performance on certain cognitive tasks by as much as 66%.
And in an open office, where there are fewer barriers to contain sound, that matters.
Good workplace design isn't only about what employees see. It's also about what they hear.
Why Open Offices Get So Noisy
Open offices were designed for collaboration and flexibility. But removing walls also removed the barriers that once helped contain sound.
Add glass, hard flooring, exposed ceilings and other reflective surfaces, and sound continues to bounce around instead of being absorbed.
The result:
- Conversations travel between workstations
- Calls interfere with nearby teams
- Noise builds as occupancy increases
- Speech privacy becomes harder to maintain
- Employees rely on headphones just to concentrate
The problem isn't necessarily the open office. It's an open office without acoustic planning.
What Does a Good Office Actually Sound Like?
Whether an office is acoustically comfortable shouldn't be based on guesswork. It can be measured.
RT60: How Long Does Sound Stay?
Reverberation Time (RT60) measures how long it takes for sound to decay by 60 dB.
When RT60 is too high, speech, calls and other office sounds linger and overlap, making the space feel louder and busier. Open offices generally benefit from controlled reverberation, often around 0.4–0.8 seconds, depending on the space and applicable standard.
SPL: How Loud Is the Office?
Sound Pressure Level (SPL) measures the intensity of sound in decibels.
Comfortable background sound levels in offices commonly sit around 40–45 dB, although the appropriate level depends on the activity and type of workspace.
Speech Intelligibility: How Clearly Can Speech Be Understood?
Speech intelligibility measures how clearly spoken words can be understood and can be evaluated using measures such as the Speech Transmission Index (STI).
In a meeting room, high speech intelligibility is essential. Across an open office, however, clearly understandable conversations travelling between unrelated work areas can become a major source of distraction.
The goal is simple: speech should be clear where communication is intended, without every conversation becoming everyone else's conversation.
When Noise Starts Affecting Productivity
Poor acoustics rarely stop work completely. They interrupt it — repeatedly.
A call nearby, a conversation between colleagues, or activity around a meeting area can pull attention away from concentration-heavy tasks.
Research into workplace interruptions has found that returning to a disrupted task can take around 23 minutes.
Across an entire day, these interruptions can contribute to:
- Reduced concentration
- Increased mental fatigue
- Lower speech privacy
- More frequent use of headphones
- Difficulty performing focus-intensive work
At that point, acoustics aren't simply a comfort issue. They're a workplace performance issue.
Fix the Acoustics, Not the Open Office
Improving acoustics doesn't mean putting the walls back. It means controlling how sound behaves within the space.
Treat the ceiling.
Acoustic baffles and ceiling clouds absorb reflected sound and help control reverberation across large open areas.
Target high-activity areas.
Meeting zones, collaboration spaces and call-heavy teams need greater acoustic absorption so their activity doesn't dominate surrounding workstations.
Interrupt sound paths.
Acoustic screens and partitions can help reduce sound travelling directly between workstation clusters while maintaining an open layout.
Create acoustic zones.
Collaboration areas and focus areas have different acoustic requirements. Their treatment should reflect how each space is actually used.
Measure the difference.
RT60, SPL and speech intelligibility can be assessed to understand existing acoustic conditions and evaluate the impact of treatment.
A Good Office Shouldn't Just Look Good. It Should Sound Right.
Good acoustics don't demand attention.
You notice them when conversations feel contained. When meetings don't overwhelm the floor. When people can focus without wearing headphones throughout the day.
That's why acoustics shouldn't be treated as something to fix after an office becomes noisy. It should be considered alongside layout, lighting, materials and services from the design stage itself.
Because an open office should make collaboration easier — not concentration harder.
FAQs
What is speech intelligibility in office acoustics?
Speech intelligibility measures how clearly spoken words can be understood within a space. It can be evaluated using measures such as STI.
What is a good RT60 for an open office?
Open offices generally benefit from controlled reverberation, often around 0.4–0.8 seconds, depending on the size, layout and applicable acoustic standard.
How do poor acoustics affect office productivity?
Background speech and repeated noise interruptions can interfere with concentration and increase mental fatigue, particularly during focus-intensive work.
Can open-office acoustics be improved without adding walls?
Yes. Acoustic baffles, ceiling clouds, wall panels and screens can absorb reflected sound and help control sound propagation while maintaining an open layout.