What is ISO 3382-3 - Room acoustic parameters of open-plan offices about?
An open-plan office is a large and open office space where a large number of occupants can simultaneously work in well-defined workstations. ISO 3382-3 specifies a method for the measurement of room acoustic parameters in unoccupied open-plan offices. ISO 3382-3 specifies measurement procedures, the apparatus needed, the coverage required, the method for evaluating the data, and the presentation of the test report.
ISO 3382-3 describes a group of single-number quantities indicating the room acoustic performance of an open-plan office in a condition when one person is speaking. They focus on spatial decay of speech while the quantities in ISO 3382-2 focus on temporal decay of sound.
Who is ISO 3382-3 - Room acoustic parameters of open-plan offices for?
ISO 3382-3 on the room acoustic parameters of open-plan offices is useful for:
- End customers (diagnosis, survey, expression of needs in keeping with their knowledge in acoustics)
- Project owners
- Project management companies (architects, acousticians, ergonomists, economists and consulting engineers)
- Building traders
- Building developer
- Specialists in occupational health, safety and quality
- Expert assessments and consultancy
Why should you use ISO 3382-3 - Room acoustic parameters of open-plan offices?
Both flexible offices and activity-based offices often involve spaces that resemble open-plan offices. Open working areas, which can be considered open-plan offices, can also be found in many libraries, hospital wards, industrial workplaces, and schools.
ISO 3382-3 discusses terms and definitions that depict a user-friendly idea of the room acoustic parameters of open-plan offices. ISO 3382-3 also provides users with measurement conditions and the determination of single-number values which help them with the space management of open-plan offices. The guidelines in ISO 3382-3 help you perceive the room acoustic parameters of open-plan offices that enable you to create an office environment that supports speech privacy and limits unwanted noises.
What’s changed since the last update?
ISO 3382-3:2022 supersedes ISO 3382-3:2012. ISO 3382-3:2022 includes some technical changes with respect to ISO 3382-3:2012. These include:
- New single-number quantity, comfort distance, added, and privacy distance removed
- The sole use of an omnidirectional sound source in all measurement phases emphasized
- Definitions (Clause 3), measurement conditions (Clause 4), and determination of single-number values (Clause 5) clarified
- Use of impulse response method better described and a new Annex B added
- Clause 6 “Precision” and an informative Annex D were added
- STI is determined in conformity with IEC 60268-16 using weighting factors α and β for the male gender
