Designing Quiet Offices & Co-Working Spaces: Expert Acoustic Tips

IVAN BERBEROV - OCTOBER 15, 2025

📖 Reading time: 4 minutes and 14 seconds

Noise is one of the leading causes of stress and lost productivity in office spaces. Research by the Danish Technical University and the University of Sydney has shown that irrelevant speech is the single most disruptive sound in open-plan offices, responsible for up to a 66% drop in performance on complex tasks compared to quiet environments.

In typical open-plan offices, average background noise levels hover around 53–54 dB, equivalent to the sound of light traffic. At first glance, that might seem moderate, but when dozens of conversations overlap, printers whir, and footsteps echo across hard floors, concentration quickly erodes.

Acoustic dissatisfaction rarely stems from loudness alone. People often report frustration when they can overhear private discussions or feel their own voice carries across the room. This lack of speech privacy undermines both comfort and confidentiality. Luckily, there are acoustic solutions at hand!

Transmission Paths and Weak Points in Offices

If you are early enough in the design stage of your office space, you may want to consider adding soundproofing while the walls, floors and ceilings are still not finished. When it comes to noise control, most problems arise not from the main walls themselves but from the weak points that let sound slip through. Even the most solid partition can fail if there’s a single unsealed joint or a hollow door nearby.

Sound waves behave like water under pressure: they find every opening, no matter how small. Common leakage points include:

Gaps around doors, windows, and glazing frames
Cracks and joints where partitions meet ceilings or floors
Electrical outlets, cable penetrations, and light fittings
HVAC ducts and shared air return paths
Poorly sealed partition edges and suspended ceiling voids

In open-plan and modular offices, these details are often overlooked during fit-out, resulting in sound leaking between adjacent zones.

Another critical factor is flanking transmission. When noise bypasses the intended barrier by travelling through adjacent surfaces or structures such as floors, ceilings, or wall junctions. Flanking paths can reduce the effective sound insulation, severely undermining overall performance.

To achieve genuine sound isolation, the goal is continuity: every surface, joint, and service opening must be sealed and acoustically treated. A single untreated duct or ceiling void can negate the benefit of even the most expensive soundproof wall.

Acoustic Treatment Within Rooms

Most of the time, an office space needs acoustic control. A well-designed office is quiet between rooms and comfortable within them. Excessive echo and long reverberation times (RT60) make speech less intelligible and amplify everyday sounds such as typing, footsteps, or chair movements.

Wall and Ceiling Panels

Installing acoustic wall panels and ceiling absorbers is the most effective way to control reflections. Materials such as mineral wool, PET felt, or perforated wood with acoustic backing absorb mid to high frequencies that dominate speech noise. The goal is to treat large reflective surfaces evenly across the room.

In large open areas where ceiling coverage is limited by lighting or ventilation systems, acoustic baffles or suspended clouds can be strategically placed above work zones. Their vertical orientation offers high absorption efficiency while preserving airflow and visual openness, ideal for coworking layouts.

Soft Flooring and Impact Absorption

Hard floors like concrete or laminate amplify noise and sound reflections. Carpets, rugs, or resilient vinyl flooring help absorb footfall, rolling chairs, and dropped objects. Studies by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health found that using sound-absorbing flooring can reduce overall noise levels by up to 6 dB(A) in open-plan spaces.

Even everyday items contribute to a better sound environment. Curtains, upholstered furniture, bookshelves, and fabric partitions all break up reflections and add absorption. A room that looks “softer” usually sounds softer too.

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Partitioning, Booths and Acoustic Barriers

Dividing space effectively is one of the most direct ways to improve privacy and reduce sound spread in offices and coworking areas. The right partitions and enclosures help define zones for focus and collaboration.

Modular Partitions and Movable Screens

Flexible modular partitions or freestanding acoustic screens are essential tools in open-plan layouts. They break up long sightlines and reduce direct sound paths between workstations. For maximum efficiency, panels should extend to at least seated head height and be finished with sound-absorbing surfaces such as PET felt or fabric.

Even a partial barrier can lead to a measurable 3–5 dB drop in perceived noise levels. Usually, a 5 dB decrease can be experienced as if the noise is two times quieter.

Enclosed Booths and Privacy Pods

Dedicated phone booths or focus pods offer refuge from the constant background hum. These self-contained spaces use a combination of high-density insulation, sealed doors, and acoustic ventilation modules to provide speech privacy without cutting airflow. A well-designed pod can achieve speech transmission loss (STL) ratings of 25–35 dB, enough to keep calls discreet even in busy coworking zones.

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Layout and Zoning Strategies

Sound management begins with smart spatial planning. Even before installing panels, thoughtful layout choices can dramatically reduce the spread of noise and improve comfort in both open-plan and cellular offices.

Separate Noisy and Quiet Zones

Group high-activity areas, such as meeting rooms, break zones, kitchens, and printing stations, away from quiet work areas. Locating these functions on opposite sides of the floor or on different levels can lower general background noise by several decibels. Workers often expect at least one designated quiet zone for focused work in shared environments.

Use Buffer Zones and Corridors

Corridors and transitional areas can be powerful acoustic tools when used strategically. They break the direct line of sound travel between quiet and noisy zones. Consider the following approaches:

Add glass partitions or partial walls to interrupt sound transmission without losing visual openness.
When solid partitions are not feasible, consider using semi-open shelving, planter walls, or acoustic curtains to visually and acoustically divide the space.
Incorporate soft finishes such as carpets, fabric panels, or felt-lined surfaces within these zones to absorb sound reflections further.
Position corridors, copy rooms, or storage spaces between meeting rooms and workstations to act as sound buffers.

Visual Cues and Behavioural Design

Sound perception is partly psychological. People tend to speak more quietly in acoustically treated zones. Consider subtle cues, such as soft lighting, visual partitions, or colour zoning, to signal “quiet areas” and encourage respectful sound behaviour without enforcing strict rules.

Desk Orientation and Spatial Arrangement

Desk placement strongly influences how speech travels through open offices. Small layout changes can noticeably improve focus and privacy:

Avoid direct face-to-face desk arrangements across open areas, as they create clear sound paths.
Arrange desks in staggered or back-to-back configurations to diffuse conversational noise.
Ensure that workstations face absorptive surfaces (like acoustic panels or fabric partitions) rather than hard, reflective materials such as glass or concrete.
Introduce low-height acoustic dividers between desks to intercept sound at mouth level without isolating employees visually.
If space allows, maintain a minimum distance of 2–3 metres between collaborative zones and quiet desks to limit speech intrusion.

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Practical Tips

In every office or coworking space, acoustic upgrades too often stall at the design stage, walls are insulated, panels erected, yet the results fall short. This checklist is your guardrail: a compact, actionable toolkit that helps you bridge the gap between theory and lasting performance. Use it when planning, implementing or auditing your acoustic interventions to ensure improvements stick.

Treat ceilings and floors as well as walls: Install suspended acoustic baffles or clouds. Use soft flooring (carpet, underlay) or modular floor panels to reduce impact noise.
Incremental upgrades approach: Start with absorption (panels, baffles) before tackling heavy structural changes. Use modular partitions or screens as a mid-level improvement
Use acoustic pods or booths for high-privacy tasks: Outfit phone booths with high-density insulation and acoustic ventilation. Line booth interiors with absorptive panels.
Zoning and layout strategies: Place noisy zones (printers, breakrooms) away from quiet work areas. Use buffer zones such as corridors, storage rooms, or glazed vestibules.
Sound masking as a complement: Add gentle ambient sound to raise the background level and mask speech intrusions. Calibrate masking to avoid “loudness fatigue”.
Balance absorption and reflection: Aim for around 25–50% of surface area treated (walls, ceiling), depending on volume. Use diffusers in addition to absorbers to avoid dead ambience.
Material selection matters: Choose panels with a high Noise Reduction Coefficient (NRC ≥ 0.7). Prefer materials certified for fire safety and durability.
Test and verify performance: Measure RT60 and absorption levels before and after. Monitor changes over time.

Controlling sound is a continuous path to a better workspace. If you’re ready to turn acoustics into an asset, get in touch with DECIBEL today. Let’s audit your space, build a bespoke solution, and help your team work in focus, comfort and confidence.

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