SPMSoft and speech privacy measurement in open-plan offices

Abstract

SPMSoft has been introduced as a new measurement software intended to measure privacy in open-plan offices during occupied conditions without disturbing the occupants. Sound attenuations between locations in an office are are determined from impulse response measurements. Daytime ambient noise levels can be measured and speech privacy measures can be measure in situ at each measurement location. SPMSoft calculates value of the Articulation Index (AI), the Speech Intelligibility Index (SII), the Speech Transmission Index (STI), and an A-weighted signal-to-noise ratio (SNR(A)). The program displays the envelope of the measured impulse response and the spectrum of the measured ambient noise. These displays give the user the key information required to diagnose the cause of acoustical problems.