How do you Control Workplace Noise?
Office noise represents one of the most common workplace complaints, with studies revealing that employees can lose on average 86 minutes per day due to noise distractions alone. The shift toward open plan offices has exacerbated this issue, as businesses prioritise collaboration and space efficiency at the expense of acoustic comfort.
This review identifies effective strategies for managing office noise, ranging from physical modifications to behavioural approaches. By implementing these solutions, companies can create more productive work environments that balance the need for communication with the essential requirement for focus and concentration.
Contents
1. Understanding the Office Noise Problem
Office noise encompasses various unwanted sounds that disrupt concentration and productivity. These include conversational noise (from colleagues on phones or impromptu discussions), equipment noise (printers, photocopiers, PC fans), and external noise (from adjacent production areas or street traffic).
What makes addressing noise particularly challenging is that tolerance levels vary significantly between individuals and tasks—what seems like a productive hum to management may be unbearable to employees trying to concentrate.
The impact of excessive noise extends beyond mere annoyance. Poor acoustic environments create stress, harm decision‑making ability, and significantly reduce productivity.
Before implementing solutions, organisations should first assess whether they truly have a noise problem. This can be identified quite easily using phone apps that measure the volume noise in certain rooms. However, often, the simplest approach is to ask employees directly about their experience with workplace acoustics.
2. Physical Modifications for Noise Reduction
Acoustic Wall and Ceiling Treatments
Acoustic wall panels are one of the most cost-effective and aesthetically pleasing solutions for reducing office noise. These specialised panels absorb sound waves rather than reflecting them back into the office space. Modern acoustic panels can be designed to resemble artwork, adding visual interest while serving a practical acoustic function.
Similarly, acoustic ceiling panels help absorb sound from above, preventing noise from reflecting downward and across open spaces. Options range from traditional suspended ceiling tiles with acoustic properties to more creative solutions like sculptural baffles or layered textile panels that both dampen sound and enhance the visual character of the space (see for example our work for the law firm Squire Patton Boggs). These solutions are particularly effective in offices with high ceilings where sound tends to reverberate.
Flooring Solutions
Hard surfaces like concrete, tile, or wood flooring reflect sound waves, amplifying office noise. Switching to noise-friendly flooring materials can significantly reduce this reflection. Carpeting is incredibly effective, absorbing between 30-70% of airborne noise while dampening impact sounds from footsteps and rolling chairs. The strategic placement of carpets in high-traffic areas and communication zones can dramatically improve the acoustic environment without requiring complete floor replacement.
Sound-Proof Insulation
When noise travels between adjacent spaces, insulation becomes crucial. Adding sound‑proof insulation to walls, ceilings, and floors prevents noise transmission between departments or external sources.
Dividers and Partitions
Office screens and partitions offer flexible solutions for breaking up sound waves in open-plan environments. Free‑standing screens provide the added benefit of mobility, allowing teams to reconfigure spaces as needed. Bench system screens attached to desks help absorb and deflect noise between neighbouring employees. These screens can be customised in height and material to balance collaboration and acoustic privacy for specific work environments.
Acoustic Walls and Room Solutions
For more substantial noise separation, acoustic walls constructed from specialised materials like foam and wool fabric create practical sound barriers while maintaining design aesthetics. These walls can subdivide larger open spaces into functional zones without requiring permanent construction.
Taking this concept further, room-in-room solutions create enclosed spaces within the larger office environment. These include phone booths, quiet pods, and meeting booths that use heavy soundproofing to create quiet islands in otherwise noisy offices. Such solutions are increasingly popular as they provide flexibility without major structural modifications to leased spaces.
3. Strategic Spatial Organisation
Optimised Office Layout
The foundation of effective acoustic management begins with thoughtful space planning. This involves analysing workflow patterns and communication needs and focusing on requirements before determining the physical layout. By mapping noise generation and sensitivity zones, organisations can create natural buffers between different types of activities.
Best practices include placing naturally noisy activities (reception areas, break rooms) away from zones requiring concentration, creating buffer zones with storage or circulation space, and positioning similar activities together to contain similar noise profiles.
In our work for Criteo‘s global offices, strategic spatial organisation was enhanced through the innovative use of functional artwork. Acoustic trees not only helped divide the space and improve sound quality, but also injected a sense of fun and softness into the overall design.
Dedicated Acoustic Zones
Creating dedicated quiet spaces offers a practical solution when certain tasks require deep concentration. These areas can be designed with enhanced acoustic treatments and clear policies about noise levels, providing employees with an escape when they need to focus intensely.
Conversely, dedicated “noisy spaces” accommodate activities that naturally generate more sound, such as team meetings, training sessions, or casual conversations. By encouraging louder activities to occur in these designated areas, organisations protect the acoustic quality of the general workspace.
Strategic Equipment Placement
Office equipment contributes significantly to ambient noise. Centralising printers, photocopiers, and other machinery in separate, possibly partitioned areas removes these noise sources from the main workspace. This approach addresses both the operational sounds of the equipment and the conversation that typically occurs around these gathering points.
Similarly, removing PC towers from desktops and mounting them under desks or in dedicated cabinets reduces fan noise near employees’ ears while also freeing up valuable desk space. This minor change can have a substantial impact on the immediate acoustic environment of individual workstations.
4. Natural Elements for Sound Absorption
Strategic Use of Plants
Plants offer dual benefits in office environments: they improve air quality while also helping to absorb and diffract sound waves. Strategic placement of plants can break up sound reflection patterns, particularly in spaces with many hard surfaces. For maximum acoustic benefit, consider larger plants with broad leaves and place them at the corners and edges of rooms where sound tends to reflect most.
Living walls or green walls represent a more dramatic implementation of this concept, creating entire surfaces of plant material that significantly absorb sound while providing biophilic benefits to employees. These installations make particularly effective additions to naturally reverberant areas like reception spaces and break rooms.
Furniture as Acoustic Elements
Office furniture selection and arrangement significantly impacts acoustics. Soft furnishings like upholstered seating, cushions, and fabric‑covered furniture naturally absorb sound rather than reflect it. Even bookshelves filled with books and storage cabinets can serve as impromptu sound barriers when strategically positioned.
Modular furniture systems can be specifically selected and arranged to create acoustic separation between areas with different noise profiles. High‑backed seating, curved desk arrangements, and bookcase dividers all contribute to breaking up sound waves without requiring dedicated acoustic products.
5. Technology-Based Solutions
Sound Masking Systems
Sound masking technology introduces carefully engineered background sound (often compared to gentle airflow) that makes distracting conversations less intelligible without increasing the overall volume significantly. Unlike white noise machines, professional sound masking is specifically calibrated to the frequencies of human speech, making nearby conversations less distracting while remaining barely noticeable.
These systems can be particularly effective in open‑plan offices where complete physical separation isn’t feasible. When properly implemented, sound masking can reduce the effective distance that conversations carry by up to 70%, dramatically improving acoustic privacy without architectural changes.
Noise‑Canceling Personal Technology
While many acoustic solutions focus on modifying the environment, personal technology can offer individual relief from distracting noise. High‑quality noise‑cancelling headphones allow employees to create their own acoustic bubbles, which is especially beneficial for tasks requiring deep concentration. Some organisations even provide these as standard equipment in open‑plan offices.
Beyond headphones, there are also advanced speaker-based systems—such as sound masking technologies—that emit ambient background noise specifically tuned to the human voice frequency. These systems help reduce speech intelligibility and create a more consistent sound environment across the workspace. When integrated thoughtfully, they can dramatically reduce the cognitive load caused by overheard conversations, boosting both privacy and productivity.
6. Behavioural Approaches to Noise Management
Establishing Clear Acoustic Policies
Creating explicit noise policies helps set expectations and provides a framework for respectful acoustic behaviour. These might include “library zones” where voices should be kept at a whisper, guidelines for speakerphone use, or protocols for moving conversations away from focused work areas when they become extended or animated.
Effective policies balance the need for communication with respect for concentration, and they work best when developed collaboratively with employee input rather than imposed from above.
Creative Signage and Reinforcement
Humorous or visually engaging signage can reinforce acoustic expectations without creating a punitive atmosphere. Visual cues like traffic‑light systems to indicate noise zones or creative illustrations about voice levels can remind employees about acoustic considerations in a way that feels supportive rather than restrictive.
Some organisations implement visual indicators that measure actual noise levels, providing real‑time feedback to help employees self‑regulate their volume in shared spaces.
Background Sound Design
Rather than fighting against all background sound, some offices deliberately introduce pleasant ambient sounds that help mask more distracting noises. Options include gentle nature sounds, instrumental music at low volumes, or specialised acoustic compositions designed to improve focus. The goal is not silence but rather a consistent, non‑jarring acoustic environment that supports concentration.
Window and Door Treatments
Curtains and drapes provide significant acoustic benefits, especially in offices with large window surfaces that would otherwise reflect sound. Heavy fabrics absorb sound waves and prevent reflection while also offering the added benefits of temperature regulation and glare reduction. Similar treatments on doors can reduce sound transmission between spaces without requiring structural modifications.
7. Implementation Considerations and How we Can Help
At K2 Space, we understand that every workplace is unique—and so are its acoustic challenges. That’s why we begin by helping organisations assess their specific acoustic needs, whether through on-site observations, professional acoustic assessments, or gathering feedback from employees. We consider workflow patterns, space usage, and existing materials to develop a clear understanding of the acoustic profile across different zones.
Our team doesn’t believe in one-size-fits-all fixes. Instead, we design comprehensive acoustic strategies that layer multiple solutions—integrating spatial planning, materials, furniture, technology, and behavioural insights. From selecting the right mix of sound-absorbing surfaces to incorporating personal tech and sound masking systems, we ensure every solution is tailored to the function and feel of the space.
While some interventions may require upfront investment, we work closely with clients to prioritise actions that deliver long-term value. Effective acoustic design enhances focus, reduces stress, supports collaboration, and boosts overall employee satisfaction and retention—making it a critical factor in workplace performance.
With K2 Space guiding the process, your organisation can move beyond simply “managing noise” to creating an environment where sound supports how people work, think, and connect.