Science & Technology - Posted by Lowri Jones-Cardiff on Thursday, March 11, 2010 13:32 - 5 Comments    
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Audibility maps help tune out office buzz

audibilitymap_1

Above, an audibility map showing the intelligibility that would be experienced by a listener in every part of a room with a lot of echoes. Intelligibility is best (red) near where the person is talking and weakest at the blue area which is close to a noise source. The software can make similar predictions for any number and distribution of noise sources. (Credit: Cardiff U.)

CARDIFF U. (UK)—Sound-mapping software based on human hearing could take the overhead noise out of open office and meeting spaces.

The new technology generates audibility maps of proposed room designs and shows hotspots where conversations would not be intelligible if the room were busy.

Using the technology, architects will be able to adjust designs to reduce reverberation until hotspots are eliminated and audibility is maximized.

“Software already exists to help architects predict how a building will perform acoustically for an audience in places like theatres and concert halls,” says John Culling, professor of psychology at Cardiff University.

“This new software is specifically designed to improve the acoustic design of indoor spaces where a large number of people meet, chat, and interact.

“It could be used for business as well as social purposes, for example, in designing open-plan offices, cafes and reception areas.”

The project team considered how people take in sound through both ears as it travels round busy rooms and how noise sources are affected by each other.

“Architects will be able to call their proposed design onto their computer screen and run the software, which will ask them to specify the locations of the main sound sources in the room,” Culling says.

“An audibility map will then automatically be produced and the architect will be able to change the room’s dimensions, its shape and/or the materials to be used, until hotspots are eliminated. This means that rooms could be tailor-made to suit their purpose.”

The new software is intended to be used in conjunction with standard architectural computer programs widely employed in room design.

Culling says the software could eventually be useful in areas where audibility is important, such as rail and airport announcement waiting areas,  and even in the development of cochlear implants and hearing aids.

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council is providing funding for the project.

Cardiff University news: www.cardiff.ac.uk/news/

5 Comments

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Jerry Butler
Mar 18, 2010 17:13

Is it possible this research could be used in reverse to pin point tinnitis activity, ablate the culprit neuron and resove the problem.

Mike
Mar 23, 2010 16:04

Interesting!!

Laurie Prior
Mar 24, 2010 18:45

Assumptions are made here that Architects actually care about this aspect of a building design unless their remit is to make a space for the performance of music specifically.
I once attended a meeting in an empty town hall for a public inquiry. Nobody could hear any speakers so the whole meeting moved out to a courtroom at the side because it was impossible to hear what was being said, even for normally hearing folks.

Interesting comment about tinnitus in the replies here. I have no faith that lots of Architects would consider this aspect of design unless they are already attuned to being mindful of the needs of people who need to hear things in bad acoustic spaces. I’ve met several Architects whose work has left spaces impossible to hear people unless you stand within two feet of them.

Also I’ve known Architects who don’t know anything about the needs of acoustical considerations and some can even make an indoor room of a small house sound like being inside a biscuit tin, just through being focused too strongly on the design and materials at the expense of what it’s like to live inside.
So much depends on the shape and the materials. One of the worst spaces for acoustics is a cube.
Many living rooms are cubic in dimension and you can’t really improve it unless you enlarge the room and soften the walls. A bit of a tall order if you’ll pardon the pun.

Laurie Prior
Mar 24, 2010 18:49

Assumptions are made here that Architects actually care about this aspect of a building design unless their remit is to make a space for the performance of music specifically.

I once attended a meeting in an empty town hall for a public inquiry. Nobody could hear any speakers so the whole meeting moved out to a courtroom at the side because it was impossible to hear what was being said, even for normally hearing folks out in that acoustically reverberant environment.

Some rooms in smallish houses sound like being inside a biscuit tin, just through the design being focused too strongly on materials at the expense of what it’s like to live inside.
One of the worst spaces for acoustics is a cube. You can’t improve it unless you enlarge the room and soften the walls. A bit of a tall order if you’ll pardon the pun.

Bill
Mar 27, 2010 20:12

Corporate offices want to reduce background noise and home offices want to increase it. Here’s a CD full of office noises that home businesses play in the background when they’re on the phone to sound more established: http://www.ThrivingOffice.com. Some also play it when they’re off the phone to foster productivity.

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