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

BS EN ISO 3382-3:2022

Acoustics. Measurement of room acoustic parameters - Open plan offices

Current

Published:

28 Feb 2022