Office Noise | Office Sound Masking

Are your employees slaves to sound?

September 17, 2009 By Bruce

Slave to sound

It makes sense to cut costs where you can, especially in this declining economy. That’s why you have a very efficient cubicle office. The downside is that without doors, each of your employees is a slave to every word and sound that is emitted in that office…whether they want to be or not. In fact, more than 70% of surveyed workers said that they could be more productive at work if there were fewer distractions.

Sound masking

A Cornell study found that, “as sound levels increase, the complexity of the task one can complete generally decreases.” This means that as the office comes to life, your employees’ ability to concentrate dies. Fortunately, the article didn’t stop there: “the most prevalent way of dealing with excessive noise is through the introduction of an artificial masking noise.” Like white noise, sound masking cancels out the typical, yet highly distracting sounds found in every American work place, without the aggravating buzz.

While you can’t make your employees play the quiet game, you can control the role that auditory distractions play in your office. Contact us to see if a Speech Privacy System is the right fit for your distracted employees.

Mardex, J. (2004). Auditory, visual, and physical distractions in the work place. Retrieved August 14, 2009, from http://www.scribd.com/doc/13038258/Auditory-visual-and-physical-distractions-in-the-workplace

Filed Under: Blog, office noise, Sound Masking Tagged With: auditory distractions, cubicle office, distracted employees, sound, Sound Masking, white noise

Do actions really speak louder than words?

September 14, 2009 By Bruce

Actions can speak louder than words

Did you know that the average worker fritters away more than 2 hours of his or her 8-hour work day? That’s because the average office noise speaks so loudly that your employees can’t take action because they are so incredibly distracted by what’s going on around them. Whether it’s their own cell phones buzzing or the guy in the cubicle next door making his weekend plans, today’s work force can’t seem to keep their minds on work.

Sound masking

A simple solution for noisy distractions is sound masking, which buries the off-putting clamor that inevitably accompanies open offices. Rather than just providing noise, a Speech Privacy System takes advantage of direct-field technology to provide uniform sound masking to your work space. It is precise and no-maintenance. Once installed, there is no need to budget for tuning or other maintenance.

By investing in a Speech Privacy System, your company can provide the ideal work environment, one that enables your employees to concentrate on their work rather than limitless distractions.

Filed Under: Blog, office noise, Sound Masking Tagged With: distracted wrokers, distractions, office noise, Open Office, Sound Masking

Do you work at Dundler Mifflin?

September 3, 2009 By Bruce

Time flies when you’re wasting it

Have you ever watched “The Office”? Between pranks, personal calls, and inter-office dysfunctional dating, not a whole lot actually gets done. In a given work day, yes, a sale or two are made, but almost in spite of the workers and the distractions they both cause and fall victim to. It’s every worker’s dream and every manager’s nightmare.

Reclaiming time

Even in a booming economy, loss of focus and attentiveness is never okay. Given our current economic crisis, hard work has never been more essential. So, how can you reclaim that invaluable time?

You can’t control the stock market, but you can control how many distractions you allow your employees to face in a given day. Phone calls have to be made and machines have to run, but not every worker has to stop working to listen to it. By installing sound masking technology, you minimize the constant disturbances every office has so that your office doesn’t resemble “The Office.”

Filed Under: Blog, office noise, Sound Masking Tagged With: office distractions, Sound Masking

August 27, 2009 By Bruce

Cutting costs doesn’t mean cutting corners

Businesses have fewer resources but clients who demand better service. Every manager is looking for ways to cut costs and somehow not cut corners. How can you get more from less?

Maximizing the resource you have

Let’s face it, in an open office sound carries. As one Cornell study found, “as sound levels increase, the complexity of the task one can complete generally decreases.” In addition, they found that high levels of noise generally lead to higher levels of fatigue and irritability. So, you get less or at least worse work from tired and stressed employees.

The same Cornell study also stated that the best way to contend with excessive noise is by using a sound masking system. Sound masking provides a uniform and low-level background noise to cancel out unwanted distractions, thus enabling your workers to produce higher-quality work in less time.

Without hiring any new staff, you can increase your company’s productivity exponentially by reclaiming the time lost due to unnecessary distractions. Don’t you think it’s worth maximizing your workers’ time?

Mardex, Justin. (2004) Auditory, visual, and physical distractions in the workplace. Retrieved August 17, 2009 from http://www.scribd.com/doc/13038258/Auditory-visual-and-physical-distractions-in-the-workplace

Filed Under: Blog, Business, office noise, Sound Masking Tagged With: distractions, Sound Masking, stress, white noise, work

White noise generators and sound masking, the key to a productive office environment

August 12, 2009 By Bruce

Most of us experience distraction at work. The funny thing about this is that we usually feel most distracted when we need to finish a report or when we are rushing a presentation. The slightest noise veers us off course. Sometimes we just wish that we can shelter ourselves from such distractions so we can get the job at hand done as soon as possible. But the reality is that the workplace is really littered with noises that we just can’t eradicate.

Nothing can be worse than being unable to focus when you really need to, so cubicle workers and office dwellers need all the help they can get in order to compose their thoughts efficiently and without distractions. This is where sound masking and white noise generators come in.

White noise generators and sound masking is the technology that discreetly tunes out background noises that may prove to be a distraction by altering the ambient sounds locally heard by office workers and cubicle dwellers. By introducing white noise into the environment, it tunes out the other sounds heard in the space it is applied. White noise is commonly used by for song recording purposes when sound levels must be at their highest and most acute, but another application is the drowning out of other distracting noises in the area.

In sound masking, a new sound is introduced in the environment to drown out the unwanted sounds. So this is very different from white noise generators. For some, sound masking can be the use of music, or reading aloud etc. it differs from person to person, and from job types to job types.

There are new technologies that make the most out of white noise generators and sound masking; in fact, there are even cases in which both are combined to completely block out unwanted sounds. However, no matter what the approach, the effect can be greatly felt. The noises that may prove distracting can be drowned out creating a more relaxed and serene working environment.

By eliminating distracting noises in the work place, cubicle dwellers will surely enjoy increased productivity and decreased distractions. White noise generators and the masking of certain sounds will be a sure way to get a serene working environment that is conducive to creativity!

White noise generators are an office employee’s best friend especially when an ambient sound in your workplace distracts you from getting the job done. You know the usual office chatter, keyboard tapping and the mouse clicking; can surely veer you away from concentrating on your work. Sound masking also helps as it supersedes the distracting sound with another ambient sound that is more conducive to get the job done.

Filed Under: Business, office noise, Sound Masking

White Noise Sound Masking Solutions For Loud Workplaces

March 31, 2009 By Bruce

Patients as well as healthcare providers have an interest in noise-masking and acoustic security. With the increased concern over confidentiality and securing the privacy of personal information, patients are interested in safeguarding confidential medical records along with information on their finances and personal lives. White noise generating equipment can help accomplish this.

Technology has made great strides in masking private conversations at offices that serve the public. One of the primary ways to accomplish this is through the use of white noise. This noise manages to be both quiet and non-intrusive and effective in distorting the sound waves of talk so that it does not carry beyond a small area.

This prevents other people, such as those in the waiting room, from overhearing private conversations between a doctor and patient. Sound can travel through doors and walls so people in nearby examination rooms or in the waiting area could overhear sensitive information even if the door is closed. Conversations between nurses and lab technicians can also be overhear if preventative measures are not taken.

White noise can also protect a patient’s private data in the administrative area of the office. Receptionists and administrators need to get personal and private information from patients both in person and over the phone. They often verify a patient’s information before an appointment and also receive financial and insurance information at the same time. This is usually done at the reception desk which is adjacent to the waiting area where other people can easily overhear.

Among the details that are confidential are date of birth, credit card and insurance information, and mailing address. Lately, the increase in identity theft has raised worries about the security of these confidential details. When white noise is generated in a waiting or greeting room, it is possible to ensure that private information on patients remains private and safeguarded.

Practitioners often use white noise machines in order to comply with hipaa privacy rules. These rules require practitioners to protect the privacy of their patients health information. This means controlling who has access to this information, which is what white noise machines are used to accomplish.

White noise is essential in doctors receptions and offices for masking crucial personal information which could be over heard by people around if the sounds travel beyond the close vicinity. Most of the information such as address, credit card details, date of birth, and insurance information and other such like information if leaked could cause major problems to people. To maintain privacy, office sound masking is of utmost importance. Doctors are duty bound to comply with hipaa privacy rules so that their patients feel secure and are not subjected to harassment due to leakage of vital information.

Filed Under: office noise, Sound Masking

Sound Masking: The Physics Behind The Noise

January 19, 2009 By Bruce

What do you do to cope with a loud work environment? Many offices solve the problem by using sound masking. It might not eliminate noise altogether, but it does help by cutting down verbal noise. Lots of successful companies have used this method with great success. Offices with sound masking technologies in place were found to be more efficient than other offices.

Why is sound masking so effective? It uses something called white noise to make it difficult to separate individual sounds, such as conversations, from each other. White noise is a constant low noise played in the background in a room such as an office. With it, you can mask other noises so that they are not distinguishable from one another.

Science and engineering acoustic breakthroughs are moving into the office. It is now possible to have a "cone of silence" around your desk, even if you are not fortunate enough to have walls surrounding you. Such direct field systems are guaranteed to keep your private information away from prying ears.

Workers may have their own white noise generators. These generators produce pleasant sounds which are closely associated with nature as rain, waterfall etc. By using these you can get rid of office noise and give yourself time to get calm and have rest. The efficiency of such generators supports you to attain higher production, concentration and attention.

It does not matter how you cover ambient sound in your office space, just make sure that it is done. There is no question that feet, telephones and voices lower worker productivity. Thus, increasing the "white noise ratio" makes for both a happier and more profitable work force.

The designer anticipates it to be silent during usage while designing an office. They must consider the fact that the noise will be generated. It creates a hard situation for the staff which has to work there. The offices which are built on open-plan designs can not reduce noise. This generates office noise, interruption, tension. Moreover it severely damages creation and efficiency and impacts speech privacy. What do you do to cope with a loud work environment? Many offices solve the problem by using sound masking. It might not eliminate noise altogether, but it does help by cutting down verbal noise.

Filed Under: Business, office noise, Sound Masking

Noisy Coworkers: 5 Ways To Deal With It

December 12, 2008 By Bruce

Everyone encounters noisy coworkers in their jobs, at some point in time. We try to handle these people by asking them nicely to be quiet, but this doesn’t always work. Other times, we may enlist the help of others in our quest. By trying only a few easy things, we can better deal with our noisy coworkers.

Wear Headphones – headphones that provide sound canceling are better, but are costly. If you want the low cost options, you can go for low-tech options. In-ear buds, over-ear headphones help you by covering either your ears or the ear passage so that you filter out interruptions. You can try music for lowering your stress levels or for helping you to focus , but remember music with lyrics may distract you.

Get a personal white noise machine – There is a big variety of these products to help one obtain speech privacy in an open office. They range from really cheap CDs which loop a white noise soundtrack to a high quality, multi channel product made to accommodate buildings and offices. The best answer for you depends partly upon how much space you wish to treat. Find a Quiet Space – Many offices have unused conference rooms, which make very good spots if you need to escape from your office banter and focus on your work.

Discuss any concerns in a meeting with a supervisor, offering some constructive ideas – The creation of a team or an office-wide noise management policy will usually be very effective and helpful. But take care to avoid using a meeting to gripe about coworkers, since this isn’t the right forum for that and it might cost you your credibility. Bear in mind that you are concerned for your team and trying to make a work environment that is more productive and comfortable for everyone. Griping will only make the situation sound like a personal one.

Share your concerns with the noisy coworker-This can be difficult, and should obviously be well-thought-out.Ask to speak with the noisy coworker in private, and be direct. Don’t hint, but be tactful. After all, you do have to work with this person! Above all, avoid the "backdoor approach" of making sarcastic comments in front of other team members. Such a passive-aggressive approach generally only offends noisy coworkers and in the end is rarely effective.

There is no need to grind your teeth. Discussing potential speech privacy issues as soon as they arise might reduce stressful situations. After all, your office space and surrounding area, not just your office equipment, have to be taken into consideration.

Noisy coworkers can be a part of everyone’s working life. In some instances a kind request to keep the noise down will do the trick; in others, this route won’t do any good. Oftentimes assistance from others can be very helpful. Sound masking canceling headphones work well for this, but they are usually pretty pricey. Get a personal white noise machine. There are lots of these products to help one obtain speech privacy in an open office. Above all, don’t just sit there and grit your teeth. There’s more to the "tools of the trade" than just a computer and a telephone.

Filed Under: Business, office noise

Office Noise More Than Just Annoying Distractions

December 10, 2008 By Bruce

In some businesses, the largest productivity losses are not the result of employees using their time to browse the Internet or do outside work that should be done on their own time, but instead the result of distracting office noises. Some of the greatest causes of office noise come from employees who waste time talking about topics that do not pertain to their duties as employees. These discussions not only distract those who are talking, but those within earshot as well.

The majority of workplaces are not sufficiently soundproofed so that workers can converse with one another or on the telephone without causing significant distractions for the colleagues in their vicinity. Short-walled cubicles and imperfect layouts in frequently close quarters can cause office noise to be disseminated throughout the entire floor, causing problems especially in smaller workspaces.

For offices dealing with office noise, the consequences of leaving the problem unchecked can manifest itself in the cost to the company. Often, the noise can take other nearby employees off of their work, which can lower productivity in the office even further. That lost productivity may not seem like much at the time that it happens, but constant workflow interruptions can result in a significant hit to your bottom line.

In order to prevent productivity loss, a number of companies are addressing office noise issues by implementing office sound masking systems. These systems work to mask any distracting noises by creating unstructured sounds in the background, resulting in a dramatic increase of speech privacy within the office. It has been shown that acoustic privacy allows almost any worker to be more productive by some degree.

If your concern is office noise, or keeping conversations out of the public earshot, consider a speech privacy system. Once in place, this cone of silence will lock in private discussions, and keep the noise away from the other employees trying to do their jobs.

As all business owners and CEOs know, office noise can not only be a frustration and distraction to employees, but it can also cost a company a lot of money. By reducing office noise, you make the office a more pleasant working environment and can increase productivity. A speech privacy system in an office is a great solution to office noise and help to increase productivity.

Many companies have started using Office Sound Masking Systems to address the loss of productivity resulting from noise. If your concern is office noise, or keeping conversations out of the public earshot, consider a speech privacy system. Once in place, this will lock in private discussions, and keep the noise away from the other employees trying to do their jobs. A noisy office can contribute to loss of productivity, costing your company money. If you take the time to have a masking or privacy system installed, this will make the work environment more pleasant for everyone in the office..