(introduction) The global COVID pandemic ushered in an era of hybrid work. Research shows that because of this there is a growing demand for workplace environments with a flexible office design. Good acoustic workplace design is crucial. Especially people working in an open office complain about lack of privacy or not having a quiet space to work in.

(method) The purpose of this case study was to investigate the impact of a quiet hub in an open office environment. The hub, as a separate area in the centre of the open- plan office, consists of a free-hanging ceiling section with a highly sound- absorbing top layer and lateral acoustic curtains that serve as screening and act like a visually separated room. The effects of the hub on the acoustic environment were measured using SPL (Sound Pressure Level), reverberation time (T20), speech intelligibility (STI) and level measurements at different distances as acoustic parameters.

(results & conclusions) Based on the results, an evidence-based design was developed to improve acoustic comfort, speech intelligibility and privacy within the centre of the workspace. Outside the centre it was leading to a reduction in intelligibility by a significant level decrease when the distance is doubled.