Guide · · 4 min read
Soundproof booth: office pod or vocal booth?
Office phone booths and vocal booths are both sold as soundproof booths but do different jobs. How to tell them apart, and what to ask a supplier.
“Soundproof booth” covers two different products. Some people searching for one want a vocal or recording booth: an isolated room for music, voiceover or broadcasting. Others want an office pod: a booth that gives someone a private place for calls in an open-plan office. They can look alike, but they're built for different jobs — and the numbers used to describe them aren't the same.
Vocal and recording booths
A recording booth is designed to keep outside noise off a recording and to give a controlled, quiet room to record in. Isolation booths of this kind are typically sold for music recording (including vocals and drums), voiceover and broadcasting, and are usually described by an overall airborne sound insulation figure in dB.
Office pods: speech privacy
An office phone booth works the other way round. Its main job is to stop your conversation carrying into the office, and to cut open-plan noise enough for a clear call. The laboratory test for that is ISO 23351-1, which measures speech level reduction and grades pods from class D (15–20 dB) to class A+ (more than 33 dB). Class B — at least 25 dB — is the level commonly cited for speech privacy in a typical office.
A sound insulation figure and an ISO 23351-1 speech level reduction are measured in different ways, so a dB number on a recording booth can't be compared directly with a class on an office pod. Our guide how soundproof is an office pod? explains the measures.
An office pod also has to work all day: fresh air, lighting and power for a laptop matter as much as the acoustics.
“Soundproof” isn't silent
No office pod should cut you off completely. Building-standards consultancy Sweco's guidance is that the fire alarm should reach at least 60 dB inside a pod, the same as a small enclosed room. A booth that blocks too much, with no plan for alarm audibility, is a problem in an office.
Comfort over long use
A booth that feels airless after ten minutes won't get used. Sweco's ventilation figure for enclosed pods is 10 litres per second per person, or 1 litre per second per m² of floor, whichever is more. Ask any supplier for the fan's airflow in litres per second.
Our phone booth, in numbers
- Sound insulation: 38–40 dB — the manufacturer's stated figure, not an ISO 23351-1 class.
- Acoustic wall panels rated NRC 0.95, to cut echo inside.
- A double-glazed tempered safety glass door.
- Motion-sensor LED lighting and active air circulation.
- A standing-height desk with a wireless charging pad and a power socket.
- 105 × 105 × 224 cm (W × L × H), taking 1.10 m² of floor.
- For indoor use only, with a 1-year warranty. In stock and delivered fully assembled.
It's built for calls and video meetings in an office or at home, not as a recording studio. See the Solo Phone Booth, all office phone booths, or our indoor home office pods.
Questions to ask any supplier
- Is the booth designed for speech privacy on calls, or for recording?
- Is the dB figure a speech level reduction measured to ISO 23351-1? Which class did it achieve?
- What's the fan's airflow in l/s, and how loud is it?
- Will our fire alarm be heard inside?
- Is it in stock, and does it arrive assembled or as panels?
