ASHRAE to Study Noise

The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) has approved a $70,000, 15-month study of the effects of noise on productivity. “Indoor background noise can dramatically impact occupants by causing annoyance, affecting productivity, hindering speech communication, impacting sleep, and degrading overall occupant comfort and satisfaction,” according to principal investigator Lily Wang, Ph.D., a professor at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. Heating and ventilation systems are often to blame for excessive indoor noise, notes ASHRAE. For more on noise management, see

EBN

Vol. 10, No. 1 and

Vol. 14, No. 3).