Eames House Bird: One of the principle sources of office noise

Noise isn’t something that we here in Leipzig’s Lower-East Plagwitz Village have to worry too much about.

The loudest it gets here being when the frogs sing their morning chorus around the lake.

However, within the (smow)office, as with in all offices, it can get loud  - telephones, typing, coffee machines, Eames House Birds, laptop coolers.

All the normal office noises that conspire to create a background wall of sound.

Whereas long-term exposure to such background office noise is unlikely to negatively affect your hearing, the noise does serve as a source of stress, reduced concentration and reduced productivity.

In 1996 the Center for Hearing and Communication established International Noise Awareness Day to help promote awareness of the dangers of long-term exposure to noise: be it noise at work, noise in the home or your iPod headphones.

In addition, International Noise Awareness Day encourages people to think about the noise that they are exposed to and consider ways of reducing such.

acousticpearl Mono Panels in situ

One of the most effective methods of helping reduce the background noise in offices is the use of noise dampening panels.

Those produced by Bremen based acousticpearls are not only certified according to ISO 354:2003 (ISO 354:2003 specifies a method of measuring the sound absorption coefficient of acoustical materials used as wall or ceiling treatments, or the equivalent sound absorption area of objects, such as furniture, persons or space absorbers, in a reverberation room) but also come in a range of high quality Kvadrat textile coverings and so also visually enhance your office.

The size of room and the amount of noise that needs to be neutralized determine the number of panels required; the existing decor, determines if the acousticpearls panels in Mono, Duo or Stripe are chosen and in which colours.

Full details on the noise dampening panels can be found at smow.com under acousticpearls

And here a short soundfile example of the effect of acousticpearls panels:

acousticpearls soundfile: Click to start

acousticpearls Panel Mono

As all who work in a small office, or perhaps more importantly from home, know, noise is one of the biggest contributors to stress and non-productivity.

And we don’t mean the radio that you want to hear, but rather the unwanted, background noise generated by others.

A little physics tells us that noise travels in waves, and that the most important factor in sustaining and amplifying noise in a room is reverberation and reflection from walls.

Ergo, stop the reverberation and reflection and you reduce the background noise and so your stress and so you can get a lot more done.

This fairly basic principle is the idea behind acousticpearls.

acousticpearls Panel DUO1

Only, and as with all really good industrial design, the crowning glory is the step from raw physics to design: which in the case of acousticpearls is the outer covering in pure new wool coverings from Danish producer kvadrat.

But back to the science.

The acoustic pearl panels are 4,5 cm thick, filled with a highly effective, shock resistant acoustic material and are certified according to ISO 354-2003 Acoustics — Measurement of sound absorption in a reverberation room.

Which on a practical level means they are effective at increasing sound absorption and reducing reverberation in a room. And so at reducing the background noise level.

acousticpearls Panel DUO2

The number of acousticpearl panels required in a given space is dependent on both the “volume” of the room and the room usage/level of expected background noise.

However, hanging several panels shouldn’t pose too many problems.

For, thanks to the decision to cover the acousticpearls panels in kvadrat wool you have a wonderful range of design, layout and colour options all in high quality pure new wool - meaning that regardless of the intended use, or number of panels required, acousticpearls can provide an attractive, stylish solution.

The acousticpearls panels come in the three different variations; MONO DUO 1 and DUO 2.

MONO is, as it’s name should suggest, MONOtone.

DUO 1 and DUO 2 are both two-toned: DUO 1 horizontally and DUO 2 vertically separated. In both cases the ratio of the two colours is 2:1

The possibly combinations are only limited by your imagination and colour schemes.

acousticpearls Panel - felxible size, colour and layout options

Finally, the back of the acousticpearls panels come with inbuilt fixtures for mounting and a complete wall mounting kit is included with each panel.

acousticpearls are ideal for not only reducing the background noise and reverberation in office environments, but also in, for example, reception areas, dining rooms/canteens or a large conference room.

They can, however, also be used in the home to help create a pleasant acoustic aesthetic.

acousticpearls are now available from (smow)