Acoustical assessment, design and electro-acoustic specification
One of the main meeting spaces in this building was on the mezzanine level and the client had identified a number of problems with sound spilling out from events in this area to other floors and work or meeting areas. This was creating workflow and privacy problems and we were asked to analyse the sound levels and propose ideas for mitigation based on the following brief:
- To provide ideal meeting/conference communication conditions on the mezzanine floor
- To ensure a significant level of privacy so that subject matter is not readily distinguishable at ground floor level
- To reduce, where possible, sound transmission between the floors
A series of detailed sound transmission tests were carried out to determine the attenuation levels from the mezzanine level to the ground floor areas and this confirmed the sound spill issues that the client had been having.
We recommended using a directive sound re-enforcement system in the mezzanine area, acoustic screening with absorption screening around the perimeter and a sound masking system installed on the ground floor. The combination of these would greatly reduce the speech intelligibility of presented material on the mezzanine level when heard at ground floor level.