Noise monitoring and nudging in open office environments

A project focused on sound pollution

The three partners each brought specialist expertise and competencies in acoustics, noise measuring and wireless sensors.

The project specifically focused on a system that can be used in large offices and call centres where employees frequently create noise nuisance during telephone conversations or discussions and when talking with colleagues. The visualisation system focuses on remedying noise problems by measuring noise simultaneously in several points over a large area and visualising the noise in real time on large screens, which creates an overview of the noise pattern in the office and identifies the noise sources.

New concept visualising sound nudges employees towards sound awareness 

This new concept developed by Jabra, SoundEar and FORCE Technology breaks away from the traditional single point sound measurements by visualising the noise in open office environments in real time using distributed sensors. By continuously measuring, analysing and visualising noise where it actually occurs and showing it to employees, they become more aware of noisy activity and change their behaviour.

The project was financed by the innovation network InfinIT and SoundEar and Jabra, and it ended with a one-month trial in a large office at a major Danish financial company. The results were successful, and the concept is now being further developed.