Software for Measuring Acoustic Parameters in Open-plan Offices

Abstract

This paper presents a development of software for the measurement and estimation of the quality of acoustic design in open-plan offices. The measurement method is defined by a standard and measurements should be performed in a large number of different spatial positions in order to measure and determine the acoustic quality of the surroundings of as many workstations as possible. The presented software significantly simplifies the process of analyzing open-plan offices by processing the signal at the time of measurement. Furthermore, it allows for the storing of measured signals and parameter values, which can be of importance for further analysis or repeated calculations. The presented procedure leads to the reduction of the necessary hardware elements for completing the analysis. All that is needed for measurement are a sound source, a microphone, a sound card and a computer. As a result, the user obtains a detailed report of the characteristics of the analyzed office space and a descriptive mark which depends on the values of the calculated parameters.