why the profession still treats acoustics as an afterthought, and what it will take to change that.
Acoustics is not a ‘finishing touch’, but a foundational design element that shapes how people work, feel and behave. Not designing for acoustics creates discordant environments, which affects productivity, wellbeing and attendance. Oscar Acoustics’ 2026 research, surveying 2,000 UK office workers, found that every day, employees lose 26 minutes of productivity due to noise. For a 100-person business, that is approximately 11,000 lost working hours a year, the equivalent of losing six full-time members of staff. Despite this, less than one in ten (8%) employers have installed acoustic treatment in the last two years. And only 14% of architects consider sound at RIBA Plan of Work Stages 0 to 2.
Designing with purpose At the roundtable, Julian de Metz, founding director of dMFK Architects, outlined how his practice approaches acoustic design. His method is to shade floor plans across different acoustic zones before making any surface decisions; identifying distinct areas for focused work, collaboration and general activity. He points out that to enable comfortable listening, learning and focused working, “you have got to lay the space out right.” That’s the design side, but sound expert Julian Treasure, a five-time TED speaker, made the human case: “Sound changes our physiology, our heart rate, breathing, hormone secretions, it changes our emotions, how we feel. It changes how well we can think.”
The commercial reality Ben Hancock, Managing Director of Oscar Acoustics, put the business case clearly: “People are already paying for the acoustic problem and they don’t realise it. If you multiply 26 minutes a day over a team of 50 people, that is 150 weeks of lost productivity a year. There is no other part of the business where a finance director would be happy with those sorts of losses.” Almost half (45%) of office workers say they would seek new work due to excessive noise. As Charlie Green, CEO of Workspace Group, put it: “Nobody says ‘I’m leaving because
the acoustics are bad’, but they will be making a decision with that informing their choice. There’s a commercial consequence to getting it wrong.”
Inclusive design isn’t a niche Gillian Burgis Smith, founder of inclusive design consultancy Strawberry Leopard, told her own story. Following two strokes and a brain tumour diagnosis in 2019, her experience of the built environment changed profoundly. “My drive now is about creating environments where people can flourish. Acoustics is critical for that.” Marion Marincat, founder of Sownd Affects, also spoke from personal experience. He became profoundly deaf at 26, an experience that revealed how inaccessible the built environment is for most people. After seven years of research, he founded Sownd Affects to set a new standard for audio-inclusive design. Research from Sownd Affects shows 60% of UK adults are noise-sensitive. That’s 30 million people.
A framework built for briefs Sownd Certification, developed by Sownd Affects in partnership with Oscar Acoustics and independently validated by the ISVR at the University of Southampton, is the world’s first accreditation for audio-inclusive spaces. It evaluates post-occupancy results and provides a framework that can be referenced in a brief. It’s time to change the conversation from cost to value. Julian Treasure calls it “return on sound”: the measurable gain in productivity, retention and wellbeing that good acoustic design provides. Acoustic design delivers that return. Sownd Certification proves its delivery.
To find out more, visit
oscar-acoustics.com/sownd-certification Contact:
01474 854902
mail@oscar-acoustics.com
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