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Confidentiality through Sound Masking for Churches

December 26, 2011 By

Sound masking is often used to cover distracting noises in businesses and other loud facilities, such as hospitals, doctor’s offices, or banks.  Most people don’t think of church along the same lines or needing distractions masked.  However, for those of us who have children, receive counseling, provide counseling, or use a church facility for programs such as divorce care or AA, we do realize that sensitive conversations can travel farther than we’d like.  They drift through ventilation ducts, under doors, out windows, and through thin walls. Even when doors are closed, for the minister wishing to be above reproach, a closed door can open a new door of dangerous possibility with misunderstood words or an inappropriate relationship.  But leaving doors open for good reasons still opens up an avenue for a breach of privacy.

Sound Masking

A simple solution is sound masking.   Instead of covering noisy distractions for the sake of  productivity, a church or worship facility could use sound masking technology to provide speech privacy.   Whether it’s a counseling session or an awkward telephone conversation, every conversation can be protected from the wrong ears.  Sound masking introduces low-level background noise to cover conversations for the purposes of speech privacy.  Speech privacy is not a matter of opinion- it is actually measurable and can be achieved.  This background noise is white noise introduced through speakers in the ceiling tiles.  Those speakers are pre-tuned and provide consistent private and confidential coverage to any treated area.  As a result, no one has to look over his (or her) shoulder during a conversation- and that feeling of trust should always accompany a church.

Possible Applications

There are many areas in worship facilities that could benefit from sound masking.  Here are just a few:

  • Counseling
  • Private telephone conversations
  • Divorce Care classes
  • AA meetings
  • Staff discussions
If your church or worship facility regularly provides counseling or support programs, sound masking can provide the necessary speech privacy for confidentiality.
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Why Sound Masking Works

December 19, 2011 By

The average worker loses two hours of productive work each day as a result of distractions.  That loss of productivity costs businesses around $600 billion a year.   due to distraction.   Thus, it’s no surprise that managers and company owners are looking for cost-effective ways to cut distraction and reclaim their portion of the loss.  A highly effective solution is a sound masking system.

What is a sound masking system?

In its simplest terms, sound masking is a system that employs white noise as a low-level background noise to cover ambient noise.  Since conversational distraction is one of the largest contributors to worker-cited distractions, covering those conversations by creating speech privacy is an innovative means of dealing with them. The white noise itself is not unlike an HVAC, except that it is much more consistent.

Adding noise to cover noise seems counter-intuitive at best.  Why is white noise is better than typical office noise?  An easy way to explain that is to imagine how irritating an oncoming car’s bright lights are when not turned off at night.  However, imagine those same lights on during the day- you may still notice them, but they certainly aren’t dazzling or blinding.  The same thing is true in the office.  Loud noises can be almost muted with the use of consistent sound (like bright lights losing their luster during the day).

Why use sound masking?

The main two reasons to use sound masking technology are to achieve speech privacy for the purpose of improving confidentiality and productivity.

  • Less distraction at work: By masking conversations and excess noise, the average worker can be up to 25% more productive with their work hours. Sound masking installed in the entire office space will benefit the entire office.
  • Improved privacy and confidentiality: Many office situations need confidentiality – human resources, government services, medical facilities, counseling, and many more. Sound masking significantly improves privacy and confidentiality throughout an entire office. It uses white noise to make human speech unintelligible to those beyond the immediate conversation.
  • Decreased stress for workers: Most of us are not aware of the stress we experience from trying to block excess noise around us. Think about trying to write an important email, or work through a complicated problem, all the while there is a noise, maybe a conversation or a horn honking, that is trying to gain your attention.  According to a study by the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), even a small acoustic treatment can reduce worker stress by more than 25%.

The appropriate use of white noise in a work place, even on an individual scale, can lower stress and increase concentration by masking background conversations and noise. Quality office-wide, sound masking provides effective privacy and confidentiality, while decreasing office distractions.

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Giving the Gift of Productivity with Sound Masking

December 5, 2011 By

Holiday Stress

The Christmas season is, unfortunately, is packed full of activities, services, and events that end up making the holiday season quite stressful.  Trying to get it all done, and done well, while still accomplishing all the normal daily stuff we have to do is pretty difficult.  That’s probably why many dread it and feel so distracted by all the hustle and bustle instead of focusing on time with family and friends.

Sound Masking

If you feel distracted, you can bet your employees are just distracted, too.  From shopping lists and grocery bills to child care and visiting family, your workers struggle to stay focused, which is hard to judge.  The bad news is that it’s not just the holidays that are distracting.  Even January to October, the average worker loses up to 2 hours every work day as a result of distraction.  Distractions aren’t always daydreaming or thinking of gift lists.  In fact, at work one of the main culprits is conversational distraction.  It may seem that conversations are almost impossible to avoid unless you ban any and all chatter, which is not only an unwise managerial move, it’s also impossible.  However, what you can do is reduce the effect of conversational and noise-related distractions by using sound masking.  Sound masking is the use of white noise to cover other noises, which may seem an odd choice.  Adding noise to cover noise may seem counter-intuitive, but white noise combines sounds from the entire spectrum so that the brain can tune out less consistent, more distracting noises.  It’s kind of like how the dinner conversation fades when you start to wash the dishes…not that dinner conversations are annoying, but they don’t stand a chance against the steady rush of water at the sink.

If distracted workers are an issue in your office, give sound masking a shot- a better, more productive work environment is the best gift you can give your employees this year.

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The Cost of Distracted Workers

November 28, 2011 By

Why Are Workers Distracted?

Many studies report that workers are distracted more than 2 hours every day.  This report leads to a variety of reactions, but the common denominator is frustration.  Managers are frustrated because they want more out their workers and their days, and interestingly, workers are just as frustrated, also wanting more out of their days.  So, why is everybody so frustrated?  Why are they losing so much time?

There are a few answers, but they all come back to distraction.  We can all agree that noise is a distracting thing, whether it’s good or bad noise.  There’s a reason we don’t talk on the phone right outside baby’s room- noise is intrusive and can interrupt the natural flow of things.  Thus, on a very base level, noise is distracting.  Take that distraction to an office, especially an open office format, and you get distracted workers.  Distracted workers are prone to more errors and stress than focused workers.  That’s a fairly obvious conclusion because it’s not hard to imagine making mistakes when one ear is tuned in to the office soundtrack on stereo speakers.  They’re more stressed because, contrary to managerial belief, workers do not prefer to lose hours of productivity a day to distraction- in fact, many complain that regardless of the 9-5 clock, they still have projects and deadlines and therefore wind up taking work home evenings and weekends.

Distracted Workers are Disengaged Workers

All of this contributes to what is called a disengaged worker, or a worker who has lost connection with his job.  The problem with disengaged workers is that they cost businesses billions of dollars a year due to

  • loss of productivity
  • errors
  • work-related stress/injuries
  • more sick days
  • frequent turn-over
And that is why disengaged workers are frustrated- they are stressed, losing time, and experiencing more illness and turn-over.  Unfortunately, even a new job doesn’t tune out distractions, so the same problems just keep repeating themselves.  The only real solution is sound masking, the use of white noise to provide a low-level background noise to cover ambient noise that causes so much distraction.
If distracted workers are problem for you, check out sound masking for more productive employees.
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Getting Thoughtful after Turkey

November 23, 2011 By

Tomorrow you will have eaten your turkey and pumpkin pie and will be appropriately stuffed, or maybe inappropriately stuffed…that’s your business not ours.  Your mind might start to wander.  You might do the math and realize that it’s less than a month until Christmas.  Having Thanksgiving tomorrow and Christmas in 4 weeks might be completely exciting or it might bring on utter feelings of stress.

The holidays should be a time of thanksgiving, celebration, and joy.  Instead we often feel stressed because we’re looking for ways to improve our bottom lines in an improving, but still tough economy.  You might have fewer workers but the same, if not higher, expectations for a brighter new year. These expectations are understandably stressful because they’ll be hard to accomplish.

Sadly, you’re not alone in your stress.  Besides the inevitable tension a declining economy ushers in, your employees are also stressed.  Interestingly, it’s distracted workers who feel more stressed.  It’s easy to deduce that distracted workers are disengaged workers who are unfocused at work.  What you might not know is that:

  • the average worker is distracted more than 2 hours every day- note this is the average worker, not the worst of the lot.
  • most workers actually feel stress as a result of that distraction

In fact, these distracted, disengaged workers suffer from several angles.  They:

  • are 18% less productive
  • have 27% higher rates of absenteeism
  • are 20-40% more likely to seek employment elsewhere
  • make 40% fewer attempts at problem-solving
  • experience more stress-related injuries as a result of not making ergonomic adjustments

Your company cannot afford loss of productivity, in addition to high rates of turn-over.  On the other hand, you can afford an ideal solution.  Sound masking is the addition of low-level background sound to reduce the impact of ambient noise.  Employees in treated areas feel less stress and are noticably more engaged and thus more productive.  Tough times call for creative measures.  Give us a try.

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Thanksgiving When It Really Matters

November 21, 2011 By

Happy Thanksgiving!!

On Being Thankful

It’s Thanksgiving…what are you thankful for?  We so often say “thank you” for mundane things, such as a funny YouTube clip or having the door held open for us.  We teach our children to say thank you well before they understand the concept.  So, what is being thankful and what are we really truly, deeply thankful for?

In honor of Thanksgiving week, I am thankful for so many things, such as the Lord and my family.  However, on a pretty personal level, I am deeply thankful to work for a company that allows me to honor my values and commitments and help my husband pay for his PhD in Scotland, a company that values honesty and integrity and never asks me to waver on them, a company that has allowed me to work from home so I can stay at home with my 3 children, one of whom is brand new!  I wanted to say thank you to the wonderful people at Speech Privacy Systems.

I started working for SPS over 2 years ago- I had no idea what “sound masking” was, but I was already a huge fan of white noise and sound machines.  Thus, it was an easy transition as I found myself passionate about the topic and continued to learn how businesses could apply the same technology for more productivity.


As my family and friends kept asking me who I was working for and why, they, too, began to see the beauty of the product.  Friends started using sound machines so their babies could sleep through loud older siblings and ringing phones, and my realtor parents saw the wisdom in sound masking technology for the office.  Too often they had to cut off a conversation or miss part of a call due to competing realtors or just plain old office noise.

So, like I said, working for SPS has been a ball!  I obviously love their product, but what really caught my attention was their integrity and their company philosophy.  They are dedicated to customer satisfaction and to doing right by people.  That’s pretty rare these days.  I guess it’s why they hired me: a stay-at-home mom.  They offered me the chance to supplement my husband’s income while enabling me the opportunity of a life time to stay at home with my kids.

I just wanted to say Happy Thanksgiving to you all from us at Speech Privacy Systems- here’s to having a restful, quiet Thanksgiving week!

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Sound Masking for Doctor’s Offices

November 16, 2011 By

More than a Name and a Number

I am frequently amazed at the amount of information people are cash registers ask you for.  It might be your first name, your last name, your whole name, including middle name, your telephone number, your birthday, your email address, your zip code, etc.  Usually there’s a reason for this information, such as verifying use of a credit card or keeping track of reward points for whatever program you’re part of.  Regardless of the purpose, however, I always feel a little bit vulnerable, as if my identity is on display.  Not only are people privy to my personal information, my actual identity could be up for grabs if the right {or in this case, wrong} person were listening.

It’s a matter of privacy, and doctor’s offices are not unlike tellers and cash registers.  Upon checking in, you have to supply your name, date of birth, and sometimes a detailed description of what’s ailing you.  A common cold is one thing, but projectile vomit or bathroom issues are quite another.  Plus, you have the added bonus of everyone knowing how old you are- yesterday, I found myself gawking at the college student who said his birthday was in 1990.  Ninety.  I was sure I had misheard, but upon doing the math, I realized I really am getting that old.  And it was none of my business in all honesty.  Even though I was seated in the waiting room, 10 feet away from reception, his every word was clear as could be.

How Confidential Privacy Can be Achieved through Sound Masking

Once again, I am reminded of how much sound masking would help in doctor’s offices and waiting rooms.  No one wants their business to be everyone else’s- not at reception and certainly not in the doctor’s office where we have to bare our medical souls.  On the contrary, we crave confidential privacy, which is why HIPAA exists in the first place.  We want more than our physical records kept confidentially, we want our conversations protected as well.  The best way to achieve that is through a sound masking system.  It’s such a simple solution of adding white noise to an area {such as a waiting room or exam room} through speakers in the ceiling tiles.  The resulting speech privacy protects us all and keeps us from getting too nosy.

Sound masking protects patients’ confidential matters in both waiting rooms and exam rooms in their doctors’ offices.

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Sound Masking Suggestion for Hotels

November 14, 2011 By

Dear Hotel Managers-

As a frequent patron of your facilities, I have a simple request.  I understand that you can not control how loud other patrons are or who sleeps when, but as a paying customer myself, I would truly appreciate any help you can offer in aiding my family’s ability to sleep and generally enjoy our stay with you.  From partying futbolistas in Mexico City to drunk party-goers everywhere to businessmen and women who simply keep different hours than our children, we have been plagued for the past 5 years with an inability to actually rest in your establishments.  Now, I’ll admit we don’t always choose the poshest hotels since they’re not usually in our budget, but at the same time, the whole point of any hotel is to give any person a place to stay overnight and get rest.

In sum, people are people and they make noise.  Throw in slamming doors, loud footsteps, dripping faucets, blaring televisions, and it’s a nightmare for you, too, because people like me complain about it.  Actually, I don’t complain, I just don’t go back to that establishment, nor do I recommend it to my friends.  Thus, my noise issue becomes your noise issue because you lose business over it.

It may seem that my problem is unavoidable- you win some, you lose some.  However, I have a simple suggestion/request: sound masking.  There are several forms of effective sound masking, none of which require aesthetic or structural changes to your hotel.  There are 2 options, both of which utilize white noise:

  1. A Sound Masking System: this system emits white noise through in-ceiling speakers to cover noise.  It adds low-level background noise to mask unwanted noise in a larger area, such as a conference room or a block of rooms.
  2. A Sound Machine: sound machines are individual solutions for one room at a time.  since some patrons don’t care about noise, this is a nice option for those of us who do.  Simply keep some sound machines at the front desk and have them ready for distribution upon request or when someone like me comes down and complains.
It’s not just businesses that lose money over noise problems; hotels lose patrons as a result of unwanted sound.  A simple, effective solution is sound masking.
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The Benefits of Sound Masking: Part 3

November 9, 2011 By

The Benefits of Sound Masking: More Productivity, More Privacy

I frequently talk about the benefits of sound masking in general, namely that this practice blocks distractions and provides speech privacy.  These are extremely important benefits for open offices, hospitals, government offices, and military bases because workers and staff can be more productive {ie less distracted} and enjoy more confidentiality.    It is a well-studies fact that office noise contributes to workers’ levels of stress, error rates, and even levels of absenteeism.  These workers are more stressed, more prone to making mistake,s less likely to problem-solve, less likely to make ergonomic adjustments to their work stations, and turn over more quickly than workers in quieter offices.  Additionally, loud offices or headquarters or bases are not private.  Conversations can be easily overheard, leading to an economic or safety disadvantage.  All of this revolves around noise and noise leaks in the work place.  That is were sound masking comes in to play.  The introduction of low-level white noise into a treated area or several zones allows workers’ conversations and noisiness in general to be covered, or masked, so that fewer people are bothered by it or privy to it.  However, what kind of white noise should be used?  How loud should it be?  Isn’t adding noise to noise counter-productive?  Do I need a sound machine or a sound masking system?  How can I mask sound without making too much noise?  Can I have paging, too?

In the next few posts, I am going to answer these questions with regard to the superior sound masking capabilities of the VoiceArrest System.

When to Use a Sound Machine & When to Choose a Sound Masking System

We’ve talked about white noise, how it’s used for sound masking, and why speaker placement is so crucial in an effective sound masking system.  Now I’d like to talk about when to use a sound machine versus when to use a system.

Sound Machines

Sound machines are great for individual use.  Sound machines are especially helpful for frustrated workers in loud cubicles or with noisy co-workers.  They are also helpful as sleep aides for adults and children alike.  The main thing to know is that sound machines are most effective for individuals in small spaces.  They do not cover large areas or help entire offices, unless everyone has one.  However, for a cubicle, a bedroom, or a hotel room, a sound machine is a fantastic resource.

Sound Masking

In contrast, sound masking is more suitable for larger areas and more people.  By its design, sound masking systems deliver uniform, consistent speech privacy for entire offices through the gentle whooshing of white noise in speakers strategically placed in the ceiling tiles.  This kind of sound masking is ideal for noisy offices, medical facilities, government agencies, and military groups because it is effective in in reducing distractions, thus improving productivity, as well as achieving confidential privacy.  Thus, it’s more than a personal noise solution- an entire office or agency can benefit.

Sound machines are effective for individuals, while sound masking systems are more suitable for larger noise problems.

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The Benefits of Sound Masking: Part 2

November 7, 2011 By

The Benefits of Sound Masking: More Productivity, More Privacy

I frequently talk about the benefits of sound masking in general, namely that this practice blocks distractions and provides speech privacy.  These are extremely important benefits for open offices, hospitals, government offices, and military bases because workers and staff can be more productive {ie less distracted} and enjoy more confidentiality.    It is a well-studies fact that office noise contributes to workers’ levels of stress, error rates, and even levels of absenteeism.  These workers are more stressed, more prone to making mistake,s less likely to problem-solve, less likely to make ergonomic adjustments to their work stations, and turn over more quickly than workers in quieter offices.  Additionally, loud offices or headquarters or bases are not private.  Conversations can be easily overheard, leading to an economic or safety disadvantage.  All of this revolves around noise and noise leaks in the work place.  That is were sound masking comes in to play.  The introduction of low-level white noise into a treated area or several zones allows workers’ conversations and noisiness in general to be covered, or masked, so that fewer people are bothered by it or privy to it.  However, what kind of white noise should be used?  How loud should it be?  Isn’t adding noise to noise counter-productive?  Do I need a sound machine or a sound masking system?  How can I mask sound without making too much noise?  Can I have paging, too?

In the next few posts, I am going to answer these questions with regard to the superior sound masking capabilities of the VoiceArrest System.

The Benefits of Controlled Placement of Privacy

Last time we talked about white noise, why it works, and how it’s used in a sound masking system.  One of the most important steps in selecting an effective sound masking system is how the speakers are placed.  With many other systems the air space above the ceiling is utilized to distribute the white noise for sound masking. When the masking is delivered in appropriate volumes above the open cubicles, the sound also echoes in the ceiling above the closed offices, even though there are no loudspeakers present.  The result is often excessive noise levels in the closed office. The old systems could only resolve this problem by lowering the settings which resulted in less consistent privacy across the open office space.

In contrast, the VoiceArrest System uses Direct Field technology which provides better control over the sound distribution in an area shared by both open cubicles and closed offices. The sound masking intended for the open office area is entirely restricted to the open area, with no echoing or bleed over effect in the closed offices or conference rooms. If there are enclosed spaces that also require sound masking, separate zones can be established with their own levels and controls entirely independent of the necessary coverage of any open office area.  Thus, direct field sound masking delivers great coverage without the historical consequences.

Sound masking is an effective means of covering office noise and providing speech privacy.  It is most effective, however, when the speakers are placed directly within the ceiling tiles so that the sound is uniform.

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