Improving office acoustics: the 4-step plan from measurement to completion

Most acoustics projects start incorrectly. Complaints arise, someone searches for acoustic panels, a quote is requested, and two months later, panels are hung on the wall. Sometimes that helps. Often it doesn’t, because the panels are placed in the wrong spot or address the wrong issue.

Acoustics is one of the few office challenges where you can calculate the result beforehand. This eliminates guesswork. Below are the four steps we follow — measure, analyze, design, and install — and what you do concretely in each step.

First, what is the actual problem you’re facing?

‘It’s too noisy’ is not a diagnosis. There are three distinct acoustic issues, and they feel the same to the user, but they require opposite solutions.

• Too much reverberation. Sound lingers in the space and builds up. Recognizable by: it sounds ‘hollow,’ and it gets louder as the day progresses. Solution: add absorption — start with the ceiling.
• Too much sound dispersion. You can hear a colleague three workstations away word for word. Recognizable by: you can’t help but listen in. Solution: partitioning and zoning.
• Too little privacy. Sensitive conversations are audible to others. Recognizable by: people stepping outside to make calls. Solution: enclosed spaces.

Almost every office has two at once. The distinction is crucial, because adding absorption to a space that primarily has a reverberation issue costs money and solves little.

Step 1 — Measure

Measuring prevents you from buying a solution for a problem you don’t have. It doesn’t have to be expensive, and it can be done in two stages.

What you can do yourself

In one day, without equipment:

1. Count the detour movements. How often do people walk to the stairwell, hallway, or outside to make calls? Two weeks of observation will give you the need for enclosed spaces, in numbers.
2. Trace the complaints. Where in the building are they located? Often, the issue is concentrated in one zone rather than the entire floor.
3. Do the clap test. Clap your hands once loudly in the middle of the space. If you hear a lingering echo, you have a reverberation issue. If it sounds immediately dull, your problem lies more in sound distribution.
4. Look up. A hard, smooth ceiling without any absorption is, in nine out of ten cases, the biggest culprit — and at the same time, the biggest opportunity.

What an acoustic consultant does

For targeted measurements, look at the reverberation time per octave band, speech intelligibility between workstations, and background noise levels. Since 2021, there’s an international standard for this: ISO 22955, specifically for the acoustic quality of open-plan offices. This standard links acoustic requirements to the type of activity — focused work, phone calls, collaboration — instead of prescribing a single value for the entire space.

In the Netherlands, there is also NPR 3438, a practical guideline with target values for noise nuisance in the workplace, focusing on communication and concentration. In Belgium, there is no separate office acoustics standard; it follows the risk analysis prescribed by the Codex.

Measure the air as well

Sounds like a tangent, but it isn’t. Poor ventilation and bad acoustics reinforce each other: in stuffy spaces, people speak louder and focus less, and enclosed cabines without ventilation simply aren’t used. The Codex requires that CO₂ levels in workspaces typically stay below 900 ppm, or that at least 40 m³ of fresh air per hour per person is supplied. A €40 CO₂ meter gives you this figure within a day.

Step 2 — Analyzing

Now you compare the measurement with the usage. This is the step most frequently skipped, and the one that saves the most money.

Map the zones

Mark on a floor plan which zones correspond to which behaviors: focused work, collaboration, phone calls, walk-through, breaks. Overlay the complaints on top. Almost always, you’ll see the same pattern: complaints occur where two incompatible activities meet — a concentration zone next to the coffee area, or call spots in the middle of the quiet space.

That diagnosis is valuable, because zoning often costs nothing. Relocating workstations is free; replacing a ceiling is not.

Determine the ambition level per zone

Not every space needs to be quiet. A cafeteria may sound like a cafeteria. Determine per zone what should be possible, and accept that a lively zone remains lively. Aiming for the same acoustic quality everywhere is expensive and rarely necessary.

Prioritize interventions by return on investment

Below is the order we follow in practice, from highest to lowest return on investment. The exact order may vary per building, but the pattern is strikingly consistent.

Pay attention to the top two rows. There’s no reason to start with the ceiling before testing whether rearranging five desks already halves the problem.

Why the ceiling almost always comes first

If an investment is indeed required, the ceiling is usually the first priority. It is the largest continuous surface in the space, it reflects sound downward to every workspace at once, and it is usually the only surface that remains fully hard — walls have cabinets and windows, floors have furniture. A acoustic ceiling island in the right place often does more than an entire wall full of panels.

Step 3 — Designing

Now that you know what the problem is and which interventions deliver the most results, choose the solution. Three things that are going wrong here.

Look at absorption class, not thickness

The sound absorption of a panel is expressed in an absorption class from A to E, based on the _w-value. Class A absorbs the most, class E the least. Two panels of the same thickness can differ by two classes, depending on material and installation method — a panel mounted with an air gap performs significantly better at low frequencies than the same panel mounted flat against the wall.

Always ask for the absorption class and the mounting method used for the measurement. Without the latter, the former is of little value.

Divide, don’t concentrate

A common mistake: placing all absorption on one wall. Distributing it across the ceiling and multiple walls works just as effectively for the same surface area, as sound comes from all directions.

Think about what the space needs to achieve

A completely deadened space is unpleasant—people unconsciously speak louder because they can’t hear their own voice. The goal is pleasant acoustics, not the quietest. That’s also why ‘more panels’ doesn’t automatically mean ‘better’.

For the concrete choices per product type: office acoustic solutions, from panels to sound booths, place them side by side. We work with wall panels, ceiling islands, partition walls and acoustic plant pots, and sound booths — usually in combination, rarely alone.

Step 4 — Positioning and re-measuring

The step that is almost always skipped: checking if it worked.

Phase gradually

Don’t do everything at once. Start with the zone that has the most complaints, measure afterward, and use that result to size the rest. This prevents overinvestment and gives you an internal success story to justify the second phase.

Measure again using the same method

Pre-measurement and post-measurement must be comparable: same method, same points, same occupancy. If you measure once on a busy Tuesday and another time on an empty Friday, you’re measuring the difference in occupancy, not the impact of your investment.

Just ask about it

Objective values tell you if the space is acoustically better. They don’t tell you if people can concentrate better. Revisit the question you asked before the intervention and compare the answers. That’s the metric your management will understand.

Plan for follow-up care

Usage changes. Teams relocate, the number of video calls increases, a department grows. Plan an evaluation after six months. Small adjustments at that time are cheaper than a second project in two years.

What this costs in time

A realistic timeline for a floor of average size:

• Step 1, measuring: 1 to 2 weeks, most of which is lead time and no active work.
• Step 2, analyzing: 1 week.
• Step 3, design and quotation: 2 to 3 weeks.
• Step 4, installation: 1 day to 2 weeks, depending on the intervention. Ceiling work typically takes place outside office hours.

From the first complaint to the delivered result: six to eight weeks. That’s shorter than most people think, and significantly shorter than the time the average organization takes to decide that something needs to be done.

DIY or hire professionals?

Step 1 you can largely do yourself: measuring, identifying complaints, clap test, CO₂ meter. This takes you one day and provides half of the insight.

From step 2 onward, it’s all about calculations. Determining how many square meters of absorption in which class you need where is a precise calculation — not a guess. This is exactly where projects that rely on intuition go wrong.

We handle the entire process from measurement to completion; see our services. If you want to look beyond acoustics alone — since sound is rarely the only issue affecting employees — the impact scan starts with the employees themselves and works from there toward the layout.

Want to get started immediately without measuring first? Begin with the eight interventions from office garden too noisy? — they are listed in order of their return per euro. If you are considering enclosed spaces, you’ll find the cost breakdown in how much does a sound booth cost.

Frequently asked questions about improving office acoustics

What is the most cost-effective way to improve office acoustics?

Zoning and behavioral agreements. Rearranging workstations so that focused work and phone calls are not side by side costs almost nothing and resolves a large part of the complaints about sound dispersion. Only then does investing in absorption make sense.

Where do you start when investing in absorption?

On the ceiling. It’s the largest continuous surface in the space, reflects sound downward to all workstations at once, and is usually the only remaining fully hard surface. An acoustic ceiling or ceiling islands typically deliver more value than wall panels.

Which standard applies to acoustics in offices?

Since 2021, ISO 22955 exists, specifically for the acoustic quality of open office spaces. It links requirements to the type of activity instead of a single value for the entire space. In the Netherlands, NPR 3438 additionally applies as a practical guideline. Belgium has no separate office acoustics standard; there, it follows the risk analysis from the Codex.

What is the difference between reverberation and sound dispersion?

Reverberation is sound that lingers in the space and builds up — you address it with absorption. Sound dispersion is sound that travels horizontally through the space, allowing you to clearly hear a colleague further away — you solve this with screening and zoning. The two issues require opposite interventions.

How long does an acoustics project take?

For a floor of average size: six to eight weeks from the first measurement to completion. Measuring and analyzing take two to three weeks, design and quotation two to three weeks, and installation itself one day to two weeks.

Last updated on 24 October 2026 by Stijn Belmans