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A laboratory study for assessing speech privacy in a simulated open‐plan office
Author(s) -
Lee P. J.,
Jeon J. Y.
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
indoor air
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.387
H-Index - 99
eISSN - 1600-0668
pISSN - 0905-6947
DOI - 10.1111/ina.12083
Subject(s) - active listening , intelligibility (philosophy) , open plan , psychology , audiology , speech recognition , distraction , loudspeaker , acoustics , statistics , computer science , mathematics , communication , cognitive psychology , physics , engineering , philosophy , civil engineering , medicine , epistemology
The aim of this study is to assess speech privacy in open‐plan office using two recently introduced single‐number quantities: the spatial decay rate of speech, DL 2,S [dB], and the A‐weighted sound pressure level of speech at a distance of 4 m, L p,A,S, 4 m [ dB ]. Open‐plan offices were modeled using a DL 2,S of 4, 8, and 12 dB, and L p,A,S, 4 m was changed in three steps, from 43 to 57 dB. Auditory experiments were conducted at three locations with source–receiver distances of 8, 16, and 24 m, while background noise level was fixed at 30 dBA. A total of 20 subjects were asked to rate the speech intelligibility and listening difficulty of 240 Korean sentences in such surroundings. The speech intelligibility scores were not affected by DL 2,S or L p,A,S, 4 m at a source–receiver distance of 8 m; however, listening difficulty ratings were significantly changed with increasing DL 2,S and L p,A,S, 4 m values. At other locations, the influences of DL 2,S and L p,A,S, 4 m on speech intelligibility and listening difficulty ratings were significant. It was also found that the speech intelligibility scores and listening difficulty ratings were considerably changed with increasing the distraction distance ( r D ). Furthermore, listening difficulty is more sensitive to variations in DL 2,S and L p,A,S, 4 m than intelligibility scores for sound fields with high speech transmission performances.