Soundproof Curtains in an Open-concept Office Design

Multiple sound curtains have been used at the headquarter of the German company Häfele. (Source: Gerriets GmbH)As more and more companies embrace a collaborative and open-concept work environment, an often ignored byproduct of this design is a concern for privacy.

Gone are the days of closing an office door to prevent private information from drifting throughout the company. Gone too are the days of being able to make an appointment (maybe an appointment about a private health matter) without it becoming common office knowledge.

In response to this concern, a German textile manufacturer has developed a sound-insulating curtain that can be temporarily erected in an office setting and offer soundproofing for potentially sensitive meetings or discussions all within the open-floor concept design.

Composed of several layers of fabric, the curtains have different acoustical impedances (the measure of a material’s resistance to the passage of sound waves). The curtains can be run on aluminum tracks attached to the ceiling of the office, reducing the sound beyond the curtain by approximately 16 decibels.

"The sound dampening in the middle and high frequencies is much higher and very loud conversations get reduced to a normal background noise level, because the curtains have a high dampening in the critical higher middle frequencies," said Jonas Schira of Gerriets GmbH, who has a background in both audio engineering and music, during Acoustics '17 Boston.

The opaque curtains can be custom designed with various thicknesses (up to 12 layers thick) and can range in size from 3 feet-by-6 feet to 1,800 square feet, creating a seminar-like room.

The company is looking to outfit the curtains with windows or, as an alternative, come up with a completely transparent design.

The system will be described by Schira during Acoustics '17 Boston, the third joint meeting of the Acoustical Society of America and the European Acoustics Association being held June 25-29, in Boston, Massachusetts.