SOUND MASKING SYSTEMS
The principle of sound masking is the emission of a soft, neutral and non-disturbing sound to mask noise distractions, mainly voices travelling throughout the office, in order to improve confidentiality and productivity.
How Does It Work?
As the background noise in offices is comparatively low, people unintentionally overhear conversations resulting in problems arising around privacy, distraction and ultimately disruption to work activity.
Sound Masking is a solution to this problem.
Sound Masking systems throw out a soft, unobtrusive background sound via a speaker system. The surrounding noise level becomes more uniform and what would normally be noisy disturbances are supressed by the system.
The result.
Staff attention is less likely to be diverted, they are able to focus better, and their efficiency levels rise considerably.
Who needs it?
Activity-Based Workplace
In this environment, not everyone has their own desk and staff circulation throughout the office occurs from hour to hour and day to day depending on their specific task. As no two work days are alike the workplace soundscape can transform from discordant din to stony silence. A Sound Masking system will stabilise an otherwise undulating soundscape and make for a more sustainable noise supressed ambience.
Open-Plan Offices
The fashionable open-plan office layout allows for the easy transmission of sound. For this reason, sound from colleagues speaking and phone conversations propagate unrestricted through the work space, hampering the ability to concentrate. Sound masking systems will do what an individually subdivided office layout might attempt to achieve – only better.
Enclosed Private Offices
Enclosed offices are typically designed to promote privacy and keep noise cross over to a minimum. Sound masking systems greatly eliminate the need for noise blocking barriers & insulation. Internal fit out construction and soundproofing costs are considerably reduced, while still maintaining privacy and confidentiality even when offices are only separated by modular partitions.
At its most basic, a sound masking system is composed of loudspeakers, installed in the ceiling or under raised access floors along with controllers to drive those loudspeakers’ output.
Like most of today’s office spaces, yours is likely a dynamic environment where ambient noise and the amount of distractions vary constantly throughout the day.
Since their introduction, various features have been added to improve the performance of Sound Masking systems. Today, the specifications for a good system generally include a timer function, wall mounted touchscreen control panels and volume controls that make finetuning quick and easy.
And most importantly our systems all integrate seamlessly with your existing Fire, PA and music systems; as well as Crestron building management systems.
