If you are considering adding soundmasking to your office environment, you need to have some basic understanding of acoustics and how soundmasking systems work. Our goal at Oeler Industries, is to provide you with enough information to make an educated decision on what system to purchase. Oeler Industries is an authorized distributor for the Lencore Spectre® Sound Masking Systems, the highest quality sound masking system in the industry for speech privacy and comfort. It is important not to confuse typical "white noise" generators or sub-standard systems that may be unconfortable to listen to, with Lencore's scientifically engineered sound.

WHY DO I NEED SOUNDMASKING?

The importance of good acoustics in the workplace is growing with the ever-increasing use of systems, furniture, teaming environments, speakerphones, cell phones, and voice-activated computer equipment. In addition, federal and state mandates for oral privacy have highlighted the importance of providing proper acoustics and speech privacy in office, healthcare, and financial settings. Recognizing this, professionals are eager to learn more about acoustics so that they may effectively control sound in the workplace.

We are surrounded by sound at all times. It affects the way we feel and behave. In the working environment, sound is particularly critical. In fact, the lack of speech privacy, and the presence of high noise levels and distracting conversations has been cited as the #1 office concern! These problems are becoming more pronounced as traditional office walls are replaced by partial height panels that allow sound to circulate more freely throughout a space.

In considering what is good and what is not good open plan acoustics, it is important to appreciate the difference between "hearing" and "understanding". The muffled sounds from adjacent workstations are not distracting if they cannot be understood. This is an example of confidential speech privacy. In this case, the listener can hear that a conversation is taking place, but cannot understand the contents of that conversation and is therefore not distracted by it.

HOW DOES SOUNDMASKING WORK?

It is impossible to absorb or block all sound with partitions because some sound will diffract by bending over the top and around the sides of these partitions. Therefore, the remaining sound must be masked by an electronic sound masking system. Unlike conventional "white noise generators", the Spectre®sound masking spectrum is complementary to the speech spectrum and effectively covers the speech levels, thus reducing both the distraction and the intelligibility of conversation. To be effective, the masking level should be 2 to 5 decibels louder than the level of incoming speech from adjacent work stations. In an open plan office, the STC and the NRC must be balanced to achieve good speech privacy while the background sound levels are comfortable and uniformly maintained.

Sound masking provides a fixed and constant level of unobtrusive background sound, which is set to cover the speech levels as well as soften the other noises, so they appear as much smaller sound fluctuations. The result is that the unwanted noise does not register to the human ear as a distraction. The individual has no need to shout into the telephone and is more relaxed in his or her workspace. Learn More ....

WHITE NOISE & PINK NOISE EXPLAINED

White and Pink Noise are simply two types of generated acoustic noise usually used to mask distracting sounds in a pleasing way. Many people describe white noise as running water or radio static. Analogous to white light, white noise contains all of the frequencies in the human range of hearing in equal proportions, as white light contains all light frequencies in equal porportions.

Pink noise is basically white noise, but with the amplitude decreasing with increasing frequency at a constant rate per octave (3db). As a result the lower frequencies are more emphasized as a result. Pink Noise is less static and is most often compared to the roar of the ocean.

The best sound masking systems utilize both white and pink noise to maintain speech privacy at a comfortable level so you don't know it's there. Lencore systems are chosen as the preferred sound 99% of the time when evaluated side by side with other sound masking systems. Some systems produce nothing other than white noise. Try tuning your radio to the static between stations, (a fair representation of white noise), and see how long you can stand listening to it.