We Understand the Need to Cover up Unwanted Sounds…

We all encounter unwanted noise every day, especially at work. From noisy co-workers and ringing phones to humming machinery and outside street noise, distractions abound. In fact, the average worker loses more than two hours each day to distractions. Under these conditions, workers experience increased stress, decreased problem solving skills, and are more error-prone than their counterparts in quieter environments. But there is a cost-effective solution: sound masking!

What Is Sound Masking?

Sound masking is the art of covering unwanted sound with the use of white noise. Unlike the annoying hissing of pure white noise, modern sound masking creates a gentler sound specifically focused on the frequencies of human speech. The resulting sound is a soft “whooshing” similar to an office ventilation system. This low-level white noise covers unwanted, distracting sound while fading almost invisibly into the background.

This focused white noise also results in “speech privacy” for the treated areas. This means that people in the same room or nearby cubicles cannot overhear every conversation around them. Speech is effectively rendered unintelligible to those who are not actually a part of the conversation.

It is important to understand that sound masking is not the same as noise cancellation technology. True noise cancellation is only available via headphones or microphones or military-grade applications. Most office noise problems, however, do not require that level of technology or expense.

How Can Sound Masking Improve Your Office?

If you want to increase the productivity of your workers by decreasing the conversational distractions in the area, sound masking is the tool that will give you the most bang for your buck. Here are some examples of the benefits of sound masking:

VoiceArrest Sound Masking SystemExample 1: With the increase in open office space and cubicles, workers are struggling to concentrate amidst the interruptions and distractions of co-workers. An increasing number of people are using headphones at work to cover up the conversations around them. Of course, they are only distracting themselves in a new way as they unintentionally type out music lyrics. Installing a sound masking system in the open office area would effectively block the excess noise and help your workers maintain their focus.

Example 2: Consider that some of the distractions from example 1 may be caused by conversations traveling freely and clearly through the paper-thin office walls into the cubicles and other nearby offices. What if those offices house your Human Resources department and those conversations are highly confidential? In this example, adding a second zone of sound masking to the closed offices, in addition to the coverage already in the open cubicles, would provide speech privacy for the offices as well. The separate zones allow for sound to be adjusted effectively for the size of the space without excess sound building up in the closed offices.

QtPro from Cambridge Sound Management can lower distractions and stress of an open office floor plan while providing effective speech privacy. Any business stands to benefit from better worker concentration and increase confidentiality.

Looking to Learn More…?

Simply choose a .pdf brochure to download below:

Sound Masking in Call Centers Click Here >>

Sound Masking in Healthcare Click Here >>

Sound Masking in Financial Firms Click Here >>