Analysis of Sound Field Context Information for Conveying Office Atmosphere

抄録

In recent years, with the widespread adoption of remote work alongside traditional office work, the challenge of sharing the office atmosphere remotely has become evident. This difficulty has raised concerns about a lack of solidarity, a sense of belonging, and an increase in psychological stress among remote workers. People can imagine the atmosphere of a place from its sounds, but it is not clear from which sounds they imagine the atmosphere. In this study, we attempt to analyze the sound field context information of office spaces in order to clarify the sounds that constitute the atmosphere. First, we categorize the sound field context based on voice recordings made in a simulated office environment. Next, we analyze the influence of the sound context information and individual characteristics on the impression based on the sound impression evaluation experiment. Finally, we conduct a psychological experiment to evaluate the categorized sound field context information. The results revealed that the sound field context information can be categorized by individuality and context, and that sounds with higher resolution in these two areas are more likely to leave a lasting impression on people. On the other hand, we found that sounds that were too explicit were perceived as bothersome by people at work and decreased their subjective work efficiency compared to quieter conditions.