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Why NEXTRA for your sound masking project?
Trust the experts with years of experience in the sound masking industry. Our staff was among the first in Arizona to commercially implement sound masking systems. We strive to remain abreast of technology and our competitors.
What is sound masking?
With a history as lengthy as that of Sound masking, it is not surprising that it has picked up a few aliases along the way: Sound masking, white noise, and speech privacy.
Whatever name you chose, the purpose of sound masking is straightforward: to electronically introduce an engineered sound pattern into an environment, thereby raising the perceived noise-floor for the purpose of changing the ratio of background noise to offensive noise.
History of sound masking:
Sound masking has a long noble history. It is generally believed that one of the first recorded implementations of sound masking dates back to Roman times when public fountains were installed to quell the bothersome sounds of chariots rolling along the cobblestone byways. The practice of using fountains for the purpose of masking annoying sounds is still a common practice today.
As the open style office began to rise in popularity in the 1960’s, the need for something to drown out the tireless roar of the ladies and gentlemen as they cackled on and slammed down the heavy handsets on their phone bases became apparent. Manufacturers struggled, with limited success, to find a way to reduce this unwanted noise. Sound damping and sound suppression materials were incorporated into office furniture and the surrounding office in a combination of clever and sometimes ridiculous ways. The main problems with many of these solutions were that they were often expensive, unsightly, and some even posed a significant fire hazard.
The real eureka moment occurred in the 1970’s when manufacturers began experimenting with the idea of creating an electronic system to introduce background noise that, instead of attempting to reduce offending sounds, would attempt to make such sounds more palatable by tricking the user’s senses into being less bothered by the noises around them.
One of the original manufactures and innovators of such systems was Soundolier, now part of Atlas sound.
Modern sound masking systems use a sound generator to create a suitable signal pattern. This signal is then amplified to provide enough power to be outputted to multiple speakers throughout the intended environment. Many systems allow the user to adjust the level of volume based upon logical zones.
Why do I need sound masking?
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Employee Productivity
Three separate studies performed by Simon Banbury and Dianne C. Berry detailed in “Disruption of office-related tasks by speech and office noise.” Show compelling evidence that there is a strong correlation between perceived distracting sounds, especially voices of other workers, and reduced productivity in the workplace
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Employee stress reduction
While at Cornell University, Gary Evans and Dana Johnson conducted a study entitled “Stress and Open-Office Noise.” In this study forty female clerical workers were randomly assigned to a control condition or to 3-hr exposure to low-intensity noise designed to simulate typical open-office noise levels. At the end of the experiment, all participants were tested for levels of the stress-indicating hormones Epinephrine, Norepinephrine, and Cortisol, to determine if loud noises presented a measurable effect on the hormones of the test subjects. Not surprisingly, the study notes that “Realistic, open-office noise has modest adverse effects on physiological stress” and goes on to indicate that an electronic sound masking system may reduce the negative effects associated with such sounds.
It is important to mention that the majority of healthcare providers as well as the American Psychological Association generally believe “Work stress has been identified as a risk factor for hypertension, diabetes, upper extremity musculoskeletal back problems, and cardiovascular disease.”
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Speech Privacy
There are many reasons that an entity might want to obfuscate the speech of individuals conducting a conversation. Chief among them is to ensure compliance with ethical or legal obligations to protect information that could potentially be over heard by an unintended party. Such is the case with many health care providers, insurance companies, law offices, or one of the other industries that fall within the jurisdiction of HIPPA
Sound Masking vs Sound Damping:
As previously stated, sound masking provides a more pleasant, productive and secure environment by electronically ADDING noise to the environment and thereby reducing the ratio of unwanted noise to background noise.
Sound damping is the process of adding passive material or structure for the purpose of REDUCING total perceived sound energy in an environment.