A comparative study on soundscapes in real and virtual open office environments

This study presents the findings of indoor soundscape research that was conducted in real (RE), recorded virtual (VE_Rec), and virtual (VE) open office environment settings. The study took place in the architectural office firm, Demay Architecture in Ankara. This study aims to analyze whether the soundscape quality can be measured in virtual open-plan office environments by collecting individual responses with ISO 12913-2:2018. 90 participants were divided into three groups with 30 people in any group. The first group (RE) of participants walked in silence over the course of a predefined route which includes 10 locations, observing the soundscape and the office environment. The second group experienced VE_Rec by watching a recorded video from RE as a virtual soundwalk. Finally, the third group experienced VE by watching a virtually modeled animation video. The same questionnaire procedure was implemented for all groups via Method A (ISO/TS 12913-2):2018. The results showed that occupants mostly perceive the real office environment (RE) more positively than the virtual (VE) and recorded virtual (VE_Rec) office environment in terms of eight perceptual attributes. RE was perceived as more “pleasant” and “calm” while VE_Rec and VE were perceived as more “annoying” and “chaotic”.