Differences in performance with different background sound and ambient noise in three open office plans

摘要

The results showed the test scores of the subjects from the triangular configuration openrnworkplace were significantly different from the scores of the other two groups. It is interestingrnbecause the triangular configuration open workplace was initially intended to stimulate workersrnby increasing contacts between them and their coworkers. As shown in the questionnaire results,rnthe workers in the triangular configuration open workplace have complained more about thernacoustic discomfort than the workers in the other two places. From the results, one mightrnassume that the real reason for the complaints might not be due to the acoustic problem, butrnrather due to increased stress from the stimulating environment.rnThere were no significant differences in the test scores between with the backgroundrnsound and with the ambient sound, although the mean scores with the ambient sound werernslightly lower than the mean scores with the background sound. However, in experiments of S.rnBanbury & D. C. Berry on office noise in 1998, office noise with and without speech disruptedrnperformance on a mental arithmetic task and the test scores with quiet sound were significantlyrnhigher than the test scores with office noise [l 11. In the light of common sense as well as thernresult of S. Banbury dz D. C. Berry, the experiment was expected to have significant differencesrnbetween the test scores under the background sound and under the ambient sound. The simplerntask test might not bring out the significant differences under the two different sound conditions.rnNoise might bring out significant differences when workers do complex tasks, where certainrninformation needs to be carried out from beginning to the end in their thinking process.rnA noticeable problem in this paper is the small number of subjects who have participated inrnthese experiments due to the limited subjects of the workplaces where the ambient sounds werernrecorded. However, it has its value because real workers participated with their ambient workingrnsound. Besides this problem, the experiment is needed to develop performance tests that conveyrnactual tasks by office workers rather than the proofreading test.