健康环境视角下开放式办公空间声环境问题及影响

Problems and impacts associated with the acoustic environment of open-plan offices from the perspective of healthy environment

工作场所的环境健康是员工身心健康的基本保证,其中声环境对员工情绪健康和工作绩效影响显著.基于开放式办公空间的广泛应用和空间开放性带来的特殊声学问题,近10年间,学界持续而深入地展开研究,取得了丰富的成果.以Web of ScienceTM核心合集为数据来源,利用CiteSpace可视化图谱分析工具对国内外的环境与建筑声学、心理声学、职业健康、环境心理学、工效学、人因技术等领域的相关研究成果进行文献分析,归纳研究热点,总结研究发现,综述开放式办公空间的声环境问题及其对办公人员的健康影响.研究发现,开放式办公空间的主要干扰声源是作为背景声存在的无关言语;言语私密性是开放式办公空间声环境最主要的问题;语言传输指数STI(speech transmission index)能够很好地表征空间的言语私密性, STI越高,无关言语的可懂度越高,产生的干扰就越大.声环境问题产生的健康影响可以概括为心理干扰和认知干扰两个层面.前者引发声烦恼,加强疲劳、压力、烦躁等负面情绪;后者降低员工的认知绩效,增加认知负荷.为保证开放式办公空间声环境的健康和舒适,应在理论研究、技术探究和管理政策等层面深入推进,尽快建立适应我国办公场所和汉语言环境特征的评价标准,作为职业健康管理、办公建筑设计和声环境改造的依据.

The environmental healthfulness of office spaces can ensure the physical and mental health of office workers. The acoustic environment, in particular, influences the emotional health and work performance of them significantly. In the past decades, continuous and in-depth research conducted by the academic community has achieved abundant helpful results based on the extensive application of open-plan offices and the unique acoustic problems associated with the openness of space. This study used the Web of ScienceTMcore collection as the data source and employed the visual profiling tools of Cite Space to analyse domestic and international literatures on environmental and architectural acoustics, psychoacoustics,environmental psychology, ergonomics, human factors and other related fields and then summarise research hotspots and outcomes as well as critical health-related problems and their impacts.Previous studies have reported that the influence of indoor noises is greater than that of outdoor noises. The primary source of noise in an open-plan office is "irrelevant speech", which is a background conversation sound between other colleagues;further, "speech privacy" is the most critical problem associated with the acoustic environment of the open-plan office. The language transmission index(STI) can appropriately characterise the speech privacy of a space. Additionally,based on the research results of "Speech Prediction Method" and "STI-Ergonomic Model", the International Organization for Standardization has formulated ISO3382-3, an acoustic environment measurement standard for open-plan offices. By utilising an appropriate translation method, China has developed and formulated the national standard GB/T36075.3.The adverse effects of the acoustic environment problems can be summarised into "psychological interference" and"cognitive interference". The former results in "sound annoyance" and strengthens negative emotions, including fatigue,stress, and irritability, whereas the latter reduces cognitive performance and increases the cognitive load of the workers.Thus, the office workers’ acoustic environment experience and its health impact are related to the space type, work type,language type, and individual differences;however, the conclusions are insufficient. Acoustic masking is an effective methodology to improve the speech privacy in a space, but it can cause acoustic comfort problems. Exploration of the types and sound pressure levels of masking sounds, their spatial presentation, workers’ comfort experience, masking performance and efficiency, and the relationship between these factors has become a research hotspot in recent years.To ensure the healthfulness and comfort of the acoustic environment of open-plan office, further promotion at the level of theoretical research as well as technical inquiry and management should be conducted. This includes establishing an evaluation criterion that fits the characteristics of China’s office space and the Chinese language environment as soon as possible because it forms the basis for occupational health management, office building design, and acoustic environment transformation. Meanwhile, the academic investigation and application exploration of the technical methods, such as acoustic masking, is being promoted to enhance the acoustic performance of the open-plan office to obtain a technical solution that can be promoted and applied. In addition, the exploration of the sound-related environmental health issues associated with the open-plan office using advanced technologies, such as the physiological measurement technology, eyetracking technology, and virtual reality presentations, is expected to obtain considerably significant academic benefits.