Conference Agenda

Acoustics plays a vital yet often underappreciated role in Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ), influencing occupant health, comfort, concentration, and academic achievement. Higher education projects encompass diverse spaces, such as lecture halls, laboratories, student centers, dormitories, sports facilities, libraries, and offices. Thoughtful acoustics design is essential in all spaces to foster learning, collaboration, a sense of community, and well-being for students, faculty, staff, and visitors.

This paper will explore synergies of acoustics and other critical IEQ parameters (thermal comfort, air quality, lighting, etc.) while advancing sustainability goals in campus environments. The paper will outline strategies for noise control, sound isolation, and room acoustics tailored to specific demands of colleges and universities. The paper will also examine how acoustic design aligns with evolving green building standards (such as ASHRAE 189.1, LEED, and WELL) to support sustainability while enhancing the occupant experience. Advanced noise control technologies and innovative materials contribute to resilient and adaptable building design. Additionally, insights will be provided on balancing acoustic performance with the functional flexibility, climate resilience, and adaptation required in academic facilities.

By addressing the intersection of acoustics, IEQ, and sustainability, this paper aims to provide actionable insights and frameworks for integrating acoustics and noise control into holistic IEQ strategies. These approaches will ensure that future building designs not only meet sustainability standards, but also deliver exceptional occupant experience for higher education buildings.

Speech privacy in office environments has become critical for occupant productivity and well-being. However, a knowledge gap remains regarding the correlation between objective metrics and subjective experiences of speech privacy in actual offices. This study investigates this relationship to identify a universal acoustic metric to accurately evaluate the subjective response regardless of the type of office environment (open-plan or closed room). This study surveyed 82 test subjects across three separate office locations in Quebec, Canada. The participants' perceptions and expectations of IEQ parameters, including speech privacy, were recorded for the spaces in which they typically worked (open-plan workstations, private offices, and meeting rooms), including their impressions with regard to the frequency of audible, intelligible, and distracting incoming speech from specific adjacent locations. The study then measured acoustic conditions in offices to calculate the Speech Privacy Class (SPC), Privacy Index (PI) and Speech Privacy Potential (SPP). Analysis revealed robust correlations between objective metrics and subjective assessments across the three parameters: speech audibility, intelligibility, and distraction. The SPC exhibited the strongest correlations.