title: Noise disturbance in open-plan study environments: a field study on noise sources, student tasks and room acoustic parameters.
abstract: The aim of this study is to gain more insight in the assessment of noise in open-plan study environments and to reveal correlations between noise disturbance experienced by students and the noise sources they perceive, the tasks they perform and the acoustic parameters of the open-plan study environment they work in. Data were collected in five open-plan study environments at universities in the Netherlands. A questionnaire was used to investigate student tasks, perceived sound sources and their perceived disturbance, and sound measurements were performed to determine the room acoustic parameters. This study shows that 38% of the surveyed students are disturbed by background noise in an open-plan study environment. Students are mostly disturbed by speech when performing complex cognitive tasks like studying for an exam, reading and writing. Significant but weak correlations were found between the room acoustic parameters and noise disturbance of students. Practitioner Summary: A field study was conducted to gain more insight in the assessment of noise in open-plan study environments at universities in the Netherlands. More than one third of the students was disturbed by noise. An interaction effect was found for task type, source type and room acoustic parameters.
authors.affiliation: a Unit Building Physics & Services, Department of the Built Environment , Eindhoven University of Technology , Eindhoven , The Netherlands.|b School of Built Environment and Infrastructure , Avans University of Applied Sciences , Tilburg , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: P Ella
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8932-468X
authors.initials: PE
authors.lastname: Braat-Eggen
authors.affiliation: a Unit Building Physics & Services, Department of the Built Environment , Eindhoven University of Technology , Eindhoven , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van Heijst
authors.affiliation: a Unit Building Physics & Services, Department of the Built Environment , Eindhoven University of Technology , Eindhoven , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Maarten
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hornikx
authors.affiliation: a Unit Building Physics & Services, Department of the Built Environment , Eindhoven University of Technology , Eindhoven , The Netherlands.|c Philips Research , Eindhoven , The Netherlands.|d Unit Human Technology Interaction, Department of Industrial Engineering & Innovation Sciences , Eindhoven University of Technology , Eindhoven , The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Armin
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kohlrausch
mesh_terms: D000162:Acoustics; D001307:Auditory Perception; D005160:Facility Design and Construction / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009426:Netherlands; D009622:Noise; D013334:Students / Q000523:psychology*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013647:Task Performance and Analysis; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Open-plan study environment; acoustics; higher education; noise; tasks