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The What, How and Why of Sound Masking |
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What is sound masking and why is
it used?
Sound masking is the addition of a familiar sounding, air conditioning-like background sound to an
environment. Masking covers up or ?masksi^ human speech and helps mitigate the distraction of
other sounds, making an environment more comfortable, workers more productive and creating
speech privacy.
Here?ßqs an analogy. Imagine that you are in a darkened room and a child is flicking a flashlight on and
off. The light is noticeable and distracting. Now imagine, the lights are on. The same flashlight is being
flicked on and off—but without notice—it has been "masked." This is how sound masking works.
Where is sound masking used?
Sound masking is used anywhere speech privacy or speech confidentiality is desired or required and in
any workspace to reduce distractions and improve productivity. The most typical installations are open
office plans, private offices, and public spaces.
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Open Office Plans
Open offices
are often either too quiet—hearing the occasional pin drop breaks concentration—or
too noisy, the conversations of co-workers are distracting and affect productivity.
Installing a Qt Quiet technology™-based sound masking system is the first and most cost-effective
step to improving speech privacy in your open office and a highly productive open office work
environment with fewer distractions. Appropriate ceiling tiles and higher cubicle walls can further
contribute to improved open office acoustics, but are often more costly and ineffective by themselves.
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Private
Offices
Private offices and other enclosed spaces, while appearing to provide privacy, often do not.
Frequently the walls are of lightweight materials or extend only to the ceiling tiles and not all the
way to the ceiling deck. Often these decisions are made for cost reasons and for flexibility of reconfiguring
the office space.
Adding
a Qt Quiet technology™ system to a private office greatly improves speech privacy by rendering
private conversations completely unintelligible to listeners in the adjacent office, hallway or
at the water cooler. |
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Public
Spaces
Reception areas, pharmacies, waiting rooms, banks and public hallways next to private offices are
all great candidates for sound masking systems. Without sound masking, private conversations can
be heard in the adjacent public spaces. Installing a
Qt Quiet technology™ sound masking system
renders private conversations unintelligible by nearby listeners, ensuring speech privacy.
Installing a Qt Quiet technology™ sound masking system is the most cost-effective way to ensure
speech privacy and comply with the speech privacy requirements of HIPAA and GLBA regulations. |
What sounds can provide sound masking
and why is one preferable to another?
Any sound can mask speech, if it is loud enough. Rain, water flow, background music, and HVAC
systems and locally controllable sources like radios, "white noise" devices you can buy for $50, or
background music all can be used to mask unwanted sound.
However, as in the light analogy, you can mask the child?ßqs flashlight with a floodlight or you can raise
the light in the room only to a level where it simply dims the impact of the flashlight.
This is how a dedicated sound
masking systems works. The sound produced with a Qt
Quiet technology™based sound masking system mirrors the spectrum of the human voice. It does not
have be loud to be effective.
In addition, Qt Quiet technology™-based
sound masking systems provide a uniform sound throughout
the targeted space. Listeners do not move in and out of "hot" spots as they would with an in-plenum
system and notice the background sound. The sound, a pleasant, non-repeating "whoosh" blends into
the background along with distracting and private conversations.
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here to request a quote!
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