Many workers have a difficult time being creative at their jobs because of unrelated and distracting noises. It is hard for companies to ensure their workers ‘acoustic privacy’. With more open-plan office now than ever before experts are finding that conversational distractions can also cause work place problems as well.
A worker’s privacy, and therefore comfort level, decreases as the noise around him increases. Overheard conversation between colleagues can be most distracting. Worker’s put more energy into drowning out distractions than they put into the job they are attempting to do.
Volume has gone up at the same time dividing walls in the workplace have been removed since the onset of the open office design and having more employees per square foot. Privacy is the clear victim of this trend. The motivating force behind this is obviously the reduction of expenditures. It costs less to omit partitions and the desire to fit more workers into these spaces has pushed this development ahead.
But the situation has been made more difficult by architects, clients and designers favoring a minimalist style. Hard surfaces such as exposed brick, marble or glass are in style, but unfortunately reflect sound rather than absorbing it. Acoustics take a backseat to aesthetics in most office internal structures.
Office products and servers can be shielded so that there is a minimal amount of noise release but generally what is really distracting is the conversational din. It is unrealistic to attempt to eliminate all noise but you can reduce its presence by trying to absorb or block it although covering is probably the most effective.
To get the largest amount of privacy for the lowest cost you would want to use covering which is known to the general public as "white noise." Although it works great as a stand alone product it is recommended that you use sound absorbent wall panels or raise the height of the cubical walls to increase privacy.
Many workers have a difficult time being creative at their jobs because of unrelated and distracting noises. It is hard for companies to ensure their workers acoustic privacy. With more open-plan office now than ever before experts are finding that conversational distractions can also cause work place problems as well. Another important aspect of this issue today in the workplace is the HIPAA legislation. Covering – known as "Sound Masking" or "White Noise" provides the biggest boost and costs the least. While you’ll probably need to add sound-absorbent wall or ceiling panels, or raise your cubicle walls, sound masking is the logical place to start.
- Frank Barnett