In a well-designed office, acoustics rarely draw attention to themselves. People can talk, concentrate and – just as importantly – choose a place suited to the task at hand.

When the acoustic design does not work, the opposite happens. Sounds overlap, the overall noise level rises, users begin to speak more loudly, and headphones become as essential as a monitor. That is usually when the question appears: what can we add to make it quieter?

But that question comes too late.

Office acoustics should result from the interaction between architecture, ceiling, flooring, walls, functional layout and furniture. Furniture is one part of that system. It cannot replace acoustic design, but when used well, it can influence sound absorption, sound propagation, speech privacy and – above all – the creation of local conditions suited to different ways of working.

In an open-plan office, reverberation time does not tell the whole story

In conventional interiors, reverberation time is one of the basic acoustic parameters. In a large open-plan office, that is not enough.

ISO 3382-3, which concerns the measurement of acoustic parameters in open-plan offices, also focuses on how speech decreases with distance from the speaker. The standard describes parameters that make it possible to assess the spatial propagation of speech, because conversations are among the most disruptive sources of distraction in an open office.

That is an important shift in perspective.

It is not enough to ask: “Does the office contain enough sound-absorbing materials?” You also need to understand how far a conversation travels and how many people are exposed to it.

This is where furniture begins to matter.

A well-positioned high screen, high-backed sofa or upholstered divider will not make sound disappear. It can, however, interrupt the direct path between source and receiver, reduce the impact of speech on neighbouring workstations and create a local zone with a different level of privacy.

Functions first. Absorption second

One of the most common mistakes is trying to improve acoustics after the office has already been fully arranged.

The open-plan area is laid out, workstations are installed, meeting rooms, kitchen and informal zone are in place. Only when employees begin to complain do acoustic panels enter the project.

Yet the most effective decision may have nothing to do with adding another panel. It may simply involve moving a function.

ISO 22955:2021, concerning acoustic quality in open-plan office spaces, clearly differentiates offices according to the type of activity performed – including work based on telephone and video communication, collaboration between neighbouring workstations and tasks involving fewer interactions.

For an architect, the conclusion is practical: before selecting acoustic materials, map the sound sources.

Where do most online conversations take place?
Where do people stop for spontaneous consultations?
Which teams work collaboratively and actually need to hear one another?
Which teams perform tasks requiring prolonged concentration?
Where are the main circulation routes?
Where are the kitchen, printers, reception area and entrances to meeting rooms?

If two teams with completely different acoustic profiles sit next to each other, furniture will be trying to solve a problem that appeared earlier – on the floor plan.

Furniture can absorb sound. But that is only one of its roles

In acoustic design, upholstered furniture is most often associated with absorption.

That is justified. Soft, porous surfaces help reduce reflections, unlike large surfaces of glass, concrete, furniture boards or other hard materials. A sofa, armchair or upholstered panel increases the amount of absorbing material in the room.

But this effect should not be overestimated.

A sofa will not replace a properly designed acoustic ceiling in a large open-plan office dominated by hard surfaces. A few armchairs will not solve a reverberation problem in a large office hall.

From an architect’s perspective, the second function of furniture is often more interesting: screening.

Tall elements placed between the sound source and the receiver can reduce direct speech propagation. That is why the height, position and continuity of a divider can be just as important as the material used to finish it.

The third function is organising behaviour.

A high-backed sofa arranged around a small table naturally creates a conversation zone. Users sit closer together, do not need to speak as loudly, and the furniture itself signals that this is a local meeting area.

This is acoustic design shaped not only by material, but by behaviour.

An acoustic screen works best when it is in the right place

Mobile and freestanding screens are among the most flexible tools available in office design, especially when the investor does not want to alter the architecture or expects frequent rearrangements.

Within the KLEIBER offer, this role is fulfilled by QUIET – a system of upholstered screens designed, among other applications, for coworking spaces and open-plan offices. The elements can be connected at different angles and used to define local zones. KLEIBER recommends them both for improving privacy and for reducing noise in open spaces.

The presence of a screen alone does not guarantee a good solution.

If the screen stands beside the workstation while the dominant source of conversation is directly in front of the user, its effectiveness will be limited. If it ends below the line between the speaker’s mouth and the listener’s ears, sound still has a direct path.

Screen design should therefore take into account not only the visual composition, but also:

the position of actual sound sources,
user height in both seated and standing positions,
the location of circulation routes,
workstation geometry,
the possibility of sound travelling around the sides,
the way sound reflects from the ceiling and adjacent surfaces.

A divider should stand where it actually interrupts the propagation path, not where it looks best in a visualisation.

A high backrest is microarchitecture

One of the more interesting directions in contemporary office design is the integration of partition functions directly into the furniture itself.

Instead of placing a sofa and then adding a separate screen, it is possible to choose seating whose form creates the enclosure.

The NEBULA collection can be equipped with a system of screens attached to armchairs and sofas. This allows the furniture to create a semi-enclosed microspace – suitable for conversation, short-term work or temporary separation from the main open-plan area. KLEIBER recommends similar solutions when discussing the reduction of stimuli and the creation of different levels of privacy in offices.

From an architect’s point of view, such furniture works on several levels at once.

It limits some directly arriving sounds.

It introduces a soft surface into an interior that may otherwise be dominated by hard materials.

It reduces movement visible in the user’s field of vision.

It creates a clear functional boundary.

It changes the way people talk – users sit closer together and are more oriented towards the centre of the arrangement.

This is no longer simply a sofa placed in an office. It becomes a small element of interior architecture.

Acoustic privacy does not mean silence

This distinction is particularly important when designing conversation areas.

A meeting zone does not have to be quiet. It should, however, reduce the likelihood that the content of a conversation remains intelligible to people sitting several workstations away.

The problem in open-plan offices is not only the sound level itself. Intelligible speech is particularly distracting. The brain automatically picks up the meaning of words, even when the user is trying to focus on a different task.

That is why two offices with a similar average sound level may be perceived very differently. In one, conversations quickly lose intelligibility with distance. In the other, a single phone call can be followed from halfway across the room.

ISO 3382-3 evaluates open-plan offices with reference to the spatial decay of speech, not only classical reverberation time.

When designing with furniture, it is therefore worth asking not only: “Will it be quieter?” but also: “Will the conversation remain local?”

That is the better question.

A sofa can define the boundary between a loud zone and a quiet one

Imagine two neighbouring parts of an office.

The first is dedicated to project work. People regularly approach one another, discuss materials and organise short meetings.

The second is occupied by a team carrying out tasks requiring analysis and concentration.

If an open passage remains between those two areas, an acoustic conflict is effectively built into the plan.

Furniture can instead be used as a buffer zone.

Rather than placing a single divider, a softer meeting area can be introduced between the teams – using high-backed sofas, armchairs or upholstered modules.

This creates a layer that increases distance, introduces absorbing surfaces and forms physical barriers along the path of sound.

At the same time, such a buffer can absorb some of the short conversations that would previously have taken place at individual workstations.

This is a particularly effective approach because furniture does not only reduce the effect of the problem. It also moves its source to a more appropriate place.

FRAME and acoustics shaped by the geometry of the zone

Not every acoustic problem requires a product labelled “acoustic” in a catalogue.

Sometimes the geometry of the arrangement matters just as much.

FRAME makes it possible to create smaller work and meeting zones through upholstered elements and configurations that form more sheltered settings. KLEIBER presents this collection, among other uses, as a way to create different levels of privacy and places for concentration.

For the architect, this creates an opportunity to design an intermediate layer between a completely open workstation and a closed room.

And this is precisely what many offices lack.

The open-plan workstation and the conference room represent two extremes. Between them there should be a whole gradient:

an open place for a quick conversation,
a semi-screened place for consultation,
an individual work zone with fewer stimuli,
an enclosed room for a confidential conversation.

Not every function needs a wall reaching the ceiling.

Do not place a focus zone next to the coffee machine

It sounds obvious, but in practice these conflicts appear regularly.

An attractive recess remains on the floor plan. It has good proportions, access to daylight and enough room for a high-backed sofa. A focus zone is created there.

Right next to it is the kitchen.

No high-quality upholstery material will change the fact that the coffee machine starts up dozens of times a day, drawers are opened, dishes are put away and spontaneous conversations begin.

Furniture can still be used there – but for a different purpose, such as informal meetings.

Acoustics should influence spatial programming, not only material selection.

For this reason, zones requiring concentration are best located:

away from main circulation routes,
away from kitchens and office equipment,
away from areas used for online meetings,
in places where movement naturally decreases.

Only then can upholstered screens, high backrests and soft furnishings make full use of their potential.

The more mobility, the more important the base scenario becomes

Mobile screens and modular furniture give architects considerable freedom.

They also have one weakness: users can move them.

After several months, a screen originally intended to separate two teams may end up against a wall because space was needed for a company meeting. A sofa rotated by 90 degrees may direct a conversation source straight towards workstations. Modules separated into individual pieces may stop forming a sheltered enclave.

For flexible solutions, it is therefore worth preparing several recommended configurations and explaining to users why the base layout looks the way it does.

Flexibility should not mean the absence of rules.

A good design allows change while preserving acoustic logic.

Do not choose an “acoustic” piece of furniture without checking the technical data

The term “acoustic” can mean many things.

It may refer to an element containing sound-absorbing material. It may describe a screen that limits direct sound propagation. It may be the name of a collection or simply a marketing term.

If a product is intended to play a specific role in acoustic calculations, the architect should request documentation and test parameters relevant to the intended application.

In particular, it is worth establishing:

whether the product has been acoustically tested,
which test method was used,
what configuration was tested,
whether the declared parameter concerns absorption or sound insulation,
whether the result applies to the entire product or only to the filling material,
whether changing the fabric or construction affects the declared properties.

If no data are available, the furniture may still be a very useful part of the acoustic design, but its influence should be treated qualitatively rather than entered into the model as an unverified numerical value.

For detailed design documentation, that distinction matters.

Acoustics are never designed by a single product

The best open-plan office will not be silent in an absolute sense. Nor should it be.

An office is a place for conversations, meetings and collaboration. The purpose of the design is not to remove sound, but to give it the right place.

The ceiling is responsible for one layer. Building partitions for another. Functional zoning defines the relationships between sources and receivers. Furniture completes the system locally: it absorbs some reflections, screens, increases distance, creates zones and influences user behaviour.

That is why QUIET works best not as a “noise solution”, but as part of a consciously designed boundary. NEBULA is not a replacement for an enclosed room, but it can create a semi-private enclave. FRAME provides the intermediate layer an office often needs between an open workstation and a separate room.

The most important decision, however, remains the layout.

You can select an excellent fabric, a high-quality panel and a tall sofa, then place them where they solve nothing.

Or you can treat furniture as part of the architecture of sound.

Ask what it shields. What it absorbs. What it separates. In which direction it directs conversation. How it changes user behaviour. What happens one metre, three metres and ten metres away.

Then furniture stops being something added to the office after the acoustic design is complete.

It becomes one of the tools through which that design is created.

FAQ

How does furniture affect office acoustics?

Furniture can support office acoustics in several ways: by absorbing some sound reflections, limiting direct propagation, defining local zones and influencing how users behave in the space. High backrests, upholstered screens, sofas and semi-enclosed modular arrangements are particularly relevant.

Can acoustic furniture replace an acoustic ceiling or acoustic walls?

No. Furniture is one part of the acoustic system, not a substitute for it. Ceilings control reflections on a larger scale, building partitions provide sound insulation between rooms, while furniture works primarily at a local level – absorbing, screening and helping create zones with different levels of privacy.

Where should acoustic screens be placed in an open-plan office?

They should be positioned where they genuinely interrupt the path between the sound source and the receiver. Workstation locations, conversation areas, circulation routes and meeting zones should all be analysed. A screen positioned only for aesthetic reasons may have significantly lower acoustic effectiveness.

Can a high-backed sofa improve acoustic comfort?

Yes, particularly when it creates a sheltered conversation area. High backrests can reduce direct sound transmission and visual stimuli, while upholstered surfaces also reduce some reflections. Such solutions work well as an intermediate layer between a completely open workstation and an enclosed room.

Which KLEIBER furniture can support office acoustics?

Relevant solutions include QUIET – a system of upholstered screens, NEBULA – a collection that allows semi-sheltered zones to be created, and FRAME – a system for building more intimate work and meeting areas.

Does acoustic privacy mean complete silence?

No. In an office, it is often more important that a conversation remains local and becomes unintelligible to people further away. The aim is not always to minimise sound level as much as possible, but to limit the range and intelligibility of speech.

How should acoustics be designed in an open-plan office?

The process should begin with an analysis of functions and sound sources: meeting areas, online conversations, concentration work, kitchens, printers and circulation routes. Ceilings, partitions, materials and furniture should be selected afterwards. Acoustic design should grow out of the spatial layout rather than be added as a final layer.

Are mobile acoustic furniture and screens a good solution?

Yes, especially in offices that change layout frequently. Their effectiveness, however, depends on correct positioning. It is therefore worth designing several recommended configurations and clearly defining which elements should remain in specific locations.

What should an architect check when selecting acoustic furniture?

The key questions are whether the product has been tested, which method was used, whether the declared parameter concerns absorption or sound insulation, and whether the result applies to the complete product or only to a material component. If no data are available, the acoustic contribution can still be assessed qualitatively, but unverified numerical values should not be assigned to the product.

How does furniture support office acoustics?