Acoustic design
Acoustics as an environmental variable significantly impacts the human impression of an interior environment.
Productivity, speech intelligibility, privacy, safety, positive user attitude and response, and environmental “comfort” all depend on proper acoustic design. The interior designer is concerned with reducing unwanted noise and preserving desirable sound in a space.
Enhancing the quality of communication through the use of reflective surfaces, and reducing undesirable noise through the use of absorptive surfaces is achieved by the specification of finishes, furnishings, equipment, and specially designed assemblies. Sound can be controlled in three ways.
- Eliminate the source
- Isolate the source provide a barrier between the user and the source
- Mask the offending sound if not possible to isolate the sound, minimize its impact on the user
