+10–15% per metre
each extra metre of distraction distance raises the odds of feeling highly disturbed by noise by 10–15%
Exact: OR 1.10–1.15 per 1 m rD increase
Each metre of distraction distance increases the odds of high noise disturbance by 10–15%
An individual participant data meta-analysis combined 21 open-plan workplaces and 883 respondents, pairing questionnaire ratings of noise disturbance with room acoustic measurements of distraction distance, the spatial reach of intelligible speech based on the Speech Transmission Index. Odds ratios for predicting high noise disturbance ranged from 1.10 to 1.15, meaning each extra metre of distraction distance raised the odds of reporting high disturbance by 10 to 15 percent, while the spatial decay rate of speech did not show the same predictive link.
For those designing or managing open-plan offices, this points to distraction distance as the acoustic property that tracks with workers feeling disturbed by noise; overall sound level and decay rate carried no comparable link. It supports room acoustic measures that shorten how far intelligible speech carries, such as absorption, physical blocking and background sound masking used together, as a route to reducing noise complaints.
The evidence is well supported, drawn from a meta-analysis pooling multiple workplace studies with consistent room acoustic measurement and a fairly large combined sample. It is observational, based on cross-sectional surveys matched to acoustic measurements, so it establishes a robust predictive association; whether changing distraction distance alone causes changes in disturbance remains open. Findings apply specifically to open-plan office settings assessed under ISO 3382-3 methodology.
- Sound level meter
- Sound level measurement (dB/dBA)
Workplace
The odds ratios ranging from 1.10 to 1.15 indicated that every one meter increase in distraction distance predicted 10-15 percent increase in the odds of perceiving high disturbance by noise.
Used in these factorsheets
Background noise lowers comfort.
Speech distraction lowers satisfaction in open-plan offices.
Soundscape probably raises comfort.
Soundscape probably raises satisfaction.
Put to work
Architect
Spatial decay and masking deliver speech privacy on an open floor
In the value engineering round, a quantity surveyor keeps an acoustic specification only when it states a measurable target, such as ISO 3382-3's D2,S of 7 dB.
Architect
Speech intelligibility is the acoustic factor a floor plan controls
In the value engineering round, only a specification that states a citable effect and a measurable target value stays on the cut list.
Asset manager
No rent premium attaches to the acoustic design on its own
Acoustic performance feeds the quality-to-rent-premium-to-exit-value chain the owner underwrites, yet the market prices it through a label average that says nothing about which measure earned it.
Asset manager
The certification premium bundles acoustics into a label average
Acoustic performance sits inside the certification premium the market already prices into your asset, yet the label average tells you nothing about whether any single acoustic measure earned it.
Corporate real estate manager
Intelligible speech cuts staff attention most on an open floor
Verbal short-term memory begins to fall at a speech transmission index of 0.21 to 0.44, on a staff bill that a 2006 REHVA guidebook puts at 100 to 200 times the energy bill.
Corporate real estate manager
Overheard speech costs staff performance from a speech transmission index of 0.21
Terrapin Bright Green (2012) put US office salaries at about ten times rent, which makes overheard speech in an open-plan office a question for the cost committee.
Developer and investor
A green certificate does not report a floor's acoustic numbers
Acoustic quality reaches your rent roll only through the people in the building and only the first step of that chain is graded strong.
Developer and investor
No study prices the acoustic fit-out into rent
Acoustic quality reaches your rent roll only through the people in the building, and only the first step of that chain is backed by strong evidence.
HR manager
A quieter floor lowered absenteeism after an office move
You answer for how the open-plan floor affects your people, but the acoustic fit-out is funded from a budget you do not control, and your satisfaction score misses the 2 per cent absenteeism drop and other performance effects documented below.
HR manager
Overheard speech is the leading source of office dissatisfaction
The acoustic complaints in your survey trace to intelligible speech at nearby desks, and the evidence base is strong enough to defend a fit-out line before the CFO.
Marketing manager
A silence claim overstates what the noise evidence shows
NC 30, about 35 dBA, is a claim a reviewer can check on the finished floor, and that measured figure is the one a compliance sign-off verifies.
Marketing manager
Reduced speech intrusion is a claim the evidence supports
A measured claim, such as a decay rate or an STI value, sells the acoustic fit-out, because a surveyor can check it against a published standard, and no standard exists for 'comfort' or 'wellbeing'.
Workplace strategist
Background speech has a measured point where performance falls
Background noise crosses a measured threshold at STI 0.21 and peaks at STI 0.44, a citable performance loss you can defend line by line in a capex paper.
Workplace strategist
Sound level alone barely changes task performance
A finance committee approves acoustic capex only when the speech intelligibility figures behind it trace to a named study and a stated threshold.
Related studysheets
OR 0.54
higher tree cover density linked to lower odds of road noise annoyance
Greater tree cover density (at a 100m buffer) is associated with roughly half the odds of road noise annoyance among residents, per 10 percentage point increase
William A. Mueller et al., 2019, Environmental Research
OR 0.55
season-specific greenness nearly halves odds of road noise annoyance
Higher season-specific NDVI (at a 100m buffer) is associated with roughly half the odds of road noise annoyance among residents
William A. Mueller et al., 2019, Environmental Research
OR 0.55
summer greenness nearly halves odds of road noise annoyance
Higher summer NDVI (at a 100m buffer) is associated with roughly half the odds of road noise annoyance among residents
William A. Mueller et al., 2019, Environmental Research
Read more in
Workplace Why open-plan offices break concentration
In open plan the work staff say they lose to noise can double, and speech intelligibility predicts it better than the sound level.
Housing Fear of eviction makes people ill
Where US states blocked eviction notices outright, renters' psychological distress fell by 12.6 per cent. Britain blocked the same route on 1 May 2026, and 697 rental homes a day are being listed for sale.
Workplace Four design choices that change office work
Even under conditions counted as acceptable, air quality takes 5 to 10 per cent off performance. Speech disrupts memory in the open plan, light shifts sleep and circadian timing and the view evidence stays thin.