Bad acoustic is the main problem in many open-plan and large office areas. This fact has been proved by a series of international surveys which have been conducted over the last years. Experience has shown that noise has a permanent influence on employees against which they have no defense. The consequences are lack of concentration, discomfort and high staff absenteeism, because an unwanted constant noise level causes stress and illness.

As a consequence hereof there are regulations and standards to protect people. Two examples are the §15 of the Workplaces Ordinance or the VDI-Guideline 2569 "Sound protection and acoustical design in offices". There it is stated that the sound level may not exceed 55 dB(A).
A common practice is to try and improve the acoustical situation with carpets or partitions. The success is mostly minimal, because a carpet absorbs sound only in very high frequency ranges. However, the relevant acoustical range in rooms lies between 500 and 2,000 hertz. The possibilities to absorb acoustical signals with partitions are also limited. Their small area and high density make them bad sound absorbers.

Two different kinds of partitions exist. There are partitions which absorb sound and others which reflect sound. Both varieties have the purpose of blocking direct sound - e.g. from reaching the colleague sitting opposite..

It is a difficult task to block sound. This is due to the fact that sound waves are spherically scattered rather than bundled. Hence they impinge on all surrounding areas and if these are hard and reflecting, the sound is cast back. The result is reverberation.

If we consider nature where no walls exist an open-air workplace with partitions would be the optimal acoustic solution. Realizing this we are literally obligated to look for similar solutions for open office environments. The simplest approach to solving this problem is to use materials which absorb sound.