Case Study: Conference Room

Comia | Dimaculangan | Natiola | Nobles | Olaez | Vitug

What is a conference room?

A

conference hall or conference room is a room provided for singular events such as business conferences and meetings. It is commonly found at large hotels and convention centers though many other establishments, including even hospitals, have one.

Activity

A conference room is important in terms of communication, both internally and externally. The design of the conference room can effectively communicate the company's values. A conference room hosts meetings where everyone around the table must be able to hear and be heard, making speech clarity a crucial element. Good sound insulation is also necessary in order to achieve privacy.

A conference room is designed for two acoustic purposes

Confine

sound within the walls so people on the outside cannot hear what is said inside. Create a good environment for conversations, both those made within and those made through a speakerphone or similar.

Acoustics in Conference rooms

When designing a room for speech it is important to give consideration to how the room will sound at the early design stage on order to optimize speech intelligibility. The acoustic design should give consideration to the following factor:

Indoor ambient noise levels/ sound isolation Reverberation time and hence, room size and acoustic absorption required. Room geometry reflections HVAC System

INDOOR AMBIENT NOISE LEVELS

This is one of the most critical elements in room design as the speakers voice needs to be clearly heard above the background noise. This will assist with speech intelligibility but also prevent undue strain to the speaker and will minimize distraction. Background noise can come from a number of sources:

External traffic, planes and trains etc. entering via external walls and windows. Noise from circulation corridors, foyers, toilets within the same or adjacent development. Air conditioning and mechanical plant serving the room.

Sound Isolation
Sound

isolation means exactly what the term implies that the room needs to be acoustically isolated from outside noise, and that it needs to stop private conversations from being heard outside the room. It is important that sound generated from outside the Conference Room not be transmitted into the room. External sounds can come from any direction, so floors, walls and ceilings all play a major role in isolating the room from sound disturbances. Generally speaking, the higher the Sound Transmission Class (STC) rating of a surface, the better that surface is for isolating external sounds.

Sound Isolation

Initially, the designer should review at the site layout. If possible, position the room away from busy roads or other noisy areas. For instance, allow for a circulation corridor or storeroom between the lecture room and another noisy space like a canteen. Appropriate placement on architectural plans during the design phase can provide a significant saving in noise control treatment during construction.

REVERBERATION TIME

Speech intelligibility is also a function of the Reverberation Time (RT). RT is a parameter that objectively describes the echoic quality of a room. This means that the walls should be thick and rigid not letting much sound through and thus the sound is trapped inside in the form of echoes or reverberations. These echoes pollute the acoustic environment on the inside and must therefore be eliminated something which is best done by sound absorption. Since the conversation that created these echoes consists of both high and low frequencies then the echoes also consists of both high and low frequencies. Because of this both high and low frequencies alike need to be removed, or absorbed, and preferably equally much of each.

Room Geometry

The shape of the room, the location of its surfaces and whether these surfaces are absorptive or reflective, all determine the loudness of the speech signal and contribute to its intelligibility. As the room size increases, the greater the reliance on the room geometry to provide an appropriate environment. Communication is further compromised if the boardroom is excessively reverberant, impacting not only communication within the room but also the sound quality at the other end of a teleconference or video conference.

Sound Reflection

1. Direct sound; reections by: 2. ceiling; 3. walls; 4. oors; 5. smooth surfaces (windows)

HVAC Systems
Heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems are often a source of undesirable sound in a Conference Room. A designer should pay attention to a few basic rules: 1. Mechanical equipment, VAV boxes and fancoil units should not be located above, below or adjacent to a Conference Room. 2. Use air handlers with low soundlevel ratings. 3. Size air ducts large enough to permit low air velocities. Diffusers should have a NC rating of 25 or less. 4. Use soundabsorbing duct liner. This will reduce the inside area of the duct, so upsize the duct accordingly to compensate.

THANK YOU!