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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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Providing Speech Privacy and Confidentiality

October 6, 2011 By

Safeguarding Private Information by All Reasonable Means Available

What does it mean to protect information in today’s marketplace? We think about firewalls to guard digital information and locked cabinets to store printed records, but often overlook the necessity of safe-guarding conversations. Speech privacy is the act of protecting private information passed through verbal communication. While this is easier when there are walls and closed doors, in open office plans and reception areas this is most effectively done through the use of sound masking technology. Here are some of the compelling situations needing speech privacy:

Business Clients

Whether on the phone or in person, many businesses communicate sensitive information about their clients on a daily basis. This requires utmost diligence by the business or organization to protect this personal and sensitive information. Financial, personal, and medical privacy is strictly regulated by law. These laws govern printed information, network security for digital data storage, and even the verbal communication of private information.

Trade Secrets

In today’s increasingly competitive marketplace, businesses exert significant care to protect  company specific information that provides an advantage over its competitors, whether about a product, a process, or even a compilation of information. Almost every industry, from finance to medicine or manufacturing to social services, is compelled to use all reasonable means available to protect company information.

Medical Facilities

A 2005 study at Johns Hopkins University found that hospital noise increased by almost 30 percent and these levels have continued to climb since. While this obviously creates an uncomfortable experience for patients, even more importantly are the HIPAA compliance problems that accompany a noisy facility.

Eliminating Eavesdropping

Companies go to great lengths to secure the digital transmission and storage of information. But the further step of achieving voice privacy in the work place is essential. The Regus Group found in a recent study that that 59% of business professional had eavesdropped on other people’s conversations, and that 19% used the information they overheard.

The current trends of open office space and mass communication can help build better collaboration, but also allows for deliberate or accidental eavesdropping. It is imperative that managers find cost-effective means to safeguard sensitive conversations in the workplace. Today’s sound masking technology can provide better speech privacy at affordable prices.

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Sound Masking: as explained in an airplane

September 22, 2011 By

Sound Masking

Many people know what sound masking is, but there are just as many who don’t.  In case you fall into the latter category, I’d love to share an easy to understand explanation of sound masking.

First, sound masking is based on the idea that unwanted noise can be masked, or covered.  It would be easy enough to drown out unwanted sounds with really loud noise, but that only makes the problem worse- you now have a really loud unwanted noise that covers a quieter unwanted noise.

The Usefulness of White Noise

Thus, instead of killing everyone’s ears, sound masking employs white noise.  White noise is the combination of sound from all points on the sound spectrum.  It can sound like a quiet fan, a water fall, an ocean, or just an air conditioning hum.  The result is that this low-level {ie quiet} white noise is enough to cover distracting, or unwanted sounds because it causes the brain not to focus on any one particular sound.

Case in point: I ran across an excerpt on one of my friend’s blogs that captured so many airplane-related travel issues so well, including how parents count on the engine sound, or white noise, to help their babies sleep.

As I approached my seat, which incidentally was supposed to be the window seat, I was greeted by two wide-eyed and frantic-looking parents trying to console their fussing 7 month-old. The mother was attempting to breastfeed her overtired baby while the father looked on in ineffective desperation. With a deer-in-the-headlights expression he said, “Do you mind if we stay where we are?” I told him it was fine and a few minutes later leaned over to reassure him that I had three small children and the crying didn’t bother me. He relaxed slightly explaining that this was their daughter’s first flight (I tried to suppress the look of “no kidding?” that fought to flicker over my face) and tried to encourage him that his baby would fall asleep as soon as we got up into the air, lulled to sleep by the noise of the engine. After all, I’ve been through it a couple of times. He nodded eagerly and said that they were hoping that would happen as this was when their daughter was usually asleep.

Sure enough. As soon as we disembarked and were airborne, the baby fell peacefully asleep and stayed that way the entire flight to Atlanta.

Business Applications

In this case, the white noise was rather loud, an airplane engine.  However, the idea is the same- the noise usually causes a nice lull in other sounds so people can sleep better.

Sound masking that uses low-level white noise has many applications, not the least of which is sleep induction.   In the case of businesses, however, sound masking can be used both to reduce distractions and provide speech privacy when confidentiality is required.  The result is that workers can be more productive because they’re less distracted and also more private in their business dealings when necessary.

Thus, if your office suffers from being too loud or too public, sound masking can  reduce distractions and provide confidentiality.

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Confidential{ity} Matters

July 28, 2011 By

Casual Eavesdropping

I found a certian Facebook thread rather interesting today:

I love it when people talk loudly about their personal lives in public places… so entertaining!

{in response} It makes for some great entertainment!

{in response} I don’t think I’m overly loud but I’ve definitely caught myself wondering if people could hear me a couple of times…

These were just a couple of friends chatting online, but it caught my attention nonetheless.  These girls are just playing around, eavesdropping for fun and really at no one’s real risk, other than a little embarrassment.  It did lead me to wonder about more serious conversations, such at those at a business level.  I thought of my parents who are realtors and have to discuss bids and negotiation points in front of other realtors and potentially their clients.  I thought of policy makers and those in control of national security.  None of those would be silly, coffee shop chatter.  Rather, there would be a real risk if overheard.

Whether it’s a proposal, a policy, or a plan of attack, both government officials and military personnel need to have the ability to discuss such matters without whispering or looking over their shoulders. Sound masking provides the confidential privacy they need, without adding walls or visible boundaries.

Privacy Index

Think back to the last time you rode on an airplane. When the engine turned on, it wasn’t that you weren’t aware of other conversations taking place. Rather, you just couldn’t decipher what was being said. Similarly, sound masking doesn’t cancel sound. Instead, it renders speech unintelligible. Most businesses would be well-served with a Normal Privacy Index Score of 80% or above. However, in confidential matters, a PI Score of 95% is necessary.

Safeguarding confidential matters is more than just a desire- it is a necessity. Whether it’s a dream, a discussion, or a decision, some conversations are better left said, but unheard. With the precise technology of sound masking, your business remains your business.

 

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How to Choose & Evaluate a Sound Masking System: Part 1

July 7, 2011 By

So often we talk about the need for sound masking- mostly due to the fact that the average worker is distracted more than 2 hours every day.  That’s a big leak that needs to be plugged profitability-wise.  And while, we could go on and on about the benefits of sound masking, today we’re going to focus on the process of choosing and evaluating a good sound masking system.

What to Look For in a Sound Masking System

As you are deciding on a sound masking system, there are usually 5 factors to consider:

  1. Cost
  2. Simplicity
  3. Privacy
  4. Precise, Uniform Sound Distribution
  5. Comfort and Sound Quality

To adequately evaluate those 5 factors, it’s important to understand how sound masking works- that way you go into the process with reasonable expectations.  That said, sound masking is all about improving speech privacy.  You may be thinking that you just want it quieter so workers can be more focused, but what you actually need is higher speech privacy.  All that means is that when someone speaks, that speech is not intelligible to those not part of the actual conversation.

There are 3 ways you can improve speech privacy, and they are often referred to as “the ABC’s”:

  • Absorb the sound with panels or higher quality ceiling tiles,
  • Block the sound by building walls or furniture partitions,
  • Cover the sound by installing a high quality sound masking system.

In all honesty, these three tools are not only not mutually exclusive, they actually work best in tandem.  However, if you had to single one out, covering is the most effective means of sound masking.  Still, while covering provides the greatest impact per dollar spent, to improve the total speech privacy score, it is most effective to employ more than one of these tools.

Now that we’ve covered that sound masking revolves around improving speech privacy, we can go into more detail about the five factors to consider when selecting a sound masking system.  Make sure to check back next week for part 2.

 

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Smell, I mean sound, Masking

April 28, 2011 By

Taking a dive for the personal

I usually write a little more formally on this blog because it’s a serious topic with a serious audience {see all the comments?}  Okay, so maybe not a consistent audience, but a serious one all the same.  Regardless, I am writing from my life today because I just can’t help it.  I mean, seriously, how many times can a girl describe sound masking, its benefits, its effectiveness, and how it works without dying of boredom?  Any topic gets dull after a few posts.

Almost any smell can be bad to a pregnant woman.

Thus, I am going to share a true, real life moment of my marriage and how sound masking has infiltrated our conversations.  I suppose my husband must have missed his shower yesterday because I gently urged him to go ahead and get it done- I have what he calls a “super-sniffer” right now in that I am 9 weeks pregnant- I can smell almost anything the very second it wafts in my general vicinity, even whether our dishes are dry or not.  As a result, while usually very understanding and sympathetic with pungent underarms, for the next 8 months, I cannot tolerate them. Hence, my wifely reminder to go ahead and take care of that.  Bless his heart, he forgot or got busy or was just tired and didn’t manage to shower.  Sigh.  Regardless, when he came up to sleep, I asked how he smelled fresh when no shower had been taken.  With a totally serious tone, he informed me that he had effectively smell masked.

Smell Masking vs. Sound Masking

We laughed pretty hard- it’s a great comparison actually.  The offensive smell is still there, but with deodorant, it had been rendered inoffensive and therefore saved what seemed like an inevitable argument re: my overly-zealous nose.  Similarly, sound masking masks, or covers, unwanted and intrusive noises in order to render them unintelligible and therefore less distracting and simultaneously more confidential.  Just like the smell, the sound is still there, it’s just not bothersome any more.

Sound masking occurs when unwanted noises are covered by low-level, inoffensive white noise for the purpose of reducing distraction and achieving speech privacy.

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Sound Masking for Churches

March 22, 2011 By

Church Experience

I have been a church attender my entire life.  Since I married my husband, I have even been a pastor’s wife for a good number of years, which has opened the inner workings of the church to me in a whole new light.  Fear not, I am not disenchanted with the church, much to the contrary.  However, I have now seen the church in many lights, including a normal attender, a college student, a pastor’s wife, a parent, a play group attender, and a “counselor.”  Each role has shown me the scope and breadth of what a {good} church should offer, which is so much more than a Sunday morning service.  From counseling sessions to equipped nurseries to dynamic Bible studies and speakers to weekly services, most churches offer a variety of things for a variety of people.

Sound Travels

It's hard to enjoy the choir when you're worried your baby is going to wake up.

This all sounds good until you realize how it sounds….loud.  {pun definitely intended}  It’s difficult to focus on the message when you hear babies screaming down the hall in nursery.  It’s even harder when you recognize that little voice as your own baby wailing.  The same is true on the flip side when a Bible study is meeting next door to band practice or even the worship service itself.  Or what about all the counseling that goes on within the doors of a church- there may not be the same feeling of distraction, but there is certainly a concern for privacy and confidentiality because most assume that what they say will not only stay within the confines of those walls, but also not be overheard by anyone else, including staff and passers-by.

Sound Masking for Churches

Reducing distraction and increasing speech privacy {or at least attaining it in the first place!} are two  very good reasons to equip churches with sound masking.  Sound masking is the use of low-level white noise through speakers in the ceiling that provides a background hum that enables/forces the brain to tune out individual speech patterns or noises.  The result is a reduction in distraction and the attainment of speech privacy- ie fewer people are distracted by noise, while those who seek confidentiality get it.

Sound masking is a reasonable noise solution, given that it reduces distraction levels, as well as achieves speech privacy- plus, it can be installed in any building- new or exititng!

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Office Noise & Masking It {Part 2}

March 10, 2011 By

Office Noise

Last time we discussed the woes of office noise.  In a nutshell, all employees in a certain study viewed office noise as problematic for productivity, as well as for morale.  In fact, workers lower on the totem pole viewed the resulting distraction and loss of speech privacy as particularly frustrating because it made them feel that their position was “less than” managerial workers.

As we said, this is not all that surprising.  While a noisy office may cater to a “fun” environment, it certainly does not go hand-in-hand with a great work ethic.  The study mentioned that workers felt frustrated, and I would venture to guess that a noisy office enables workers to slack off intentionally, too.  After all, if no one can hear you make a bunch of personal calls, why not?  It beats spreadsheets and project reports.

This begs the question, what can we do????  Is office noise a perennial problem that simply cannot be avoided?  Of course not.  Modern technology, like sound masking, has evolved for this very problem.  Let’s see what the study has to say about masking the aforementioned office noise:

To test the effects of masked and unmasked office noise on arousal, stress and cognitive performance, each of three groups of 15 student volunteers was exposed to one of the following conditions: taped office noise (54 dbA with bursts to 60-66 dbA), the same noise masked by white noise at 59 dbA, and no extraneous noise. Findings confirmed predictions based on theories of arousal and disruptive stress. The no noise group performed best on a measure of cognitive complexity and felt the least disturbed and stressed by the environment. Masked noise subjects performed better than those in the unmasked condition on both complexity and a simple attention task; they felt more aroused but less disturbed or stressed by the environment. The findings are relevant to both theoretical and applied aspects of ambient noise.

Again, not that surprising: workers with blasts of pretty loud sound had the worst productivity, workers with no sound had the best, and workers with masked sound were in the middle.  Now, with our blog name being what it is, you may be surprised that I included this tidbit.  However, truth is truth.  Almost everyone would prefer to work uninterrupted, with no sound at all.  The problem is that this is only achievable in a study with a controlled environment.  That being said, the next best solution is sound masking.  Plus, sound masking also aides in speech privacy.  It’s important to note that even if a perfectly silent office were possible, speech privacy would go out the window completely.

What Is Sound Masking?

Plain and simple, sound masking is the use of white noise to cover (ie mask) unwanted sound.  Because workers find their productivity so hindered, the installation of a virtually unnoticeable sound masking system is an easy and immediate solution to get workers focused and back on track.  It’s a lot less expensive than adding walls, too.

In summary, office noise is a real problem for workers’ productivity, as well as their sense of value.  Sound masking is the best solution to reduce distractions and even boost speech privacy.

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Office Noise & Masking It {Part 1}

March 8, 2011 By

The Woes of Office Noise

An interesting study was performed on the effects of office noise and distractions.  To save you the time of reading the entire study, here is the abstract which effectively summarizes the results:

A total of 649 employees at all job levels working in open-plan offices on each of the five floors of an office building completed an extensive questionnaire on their work and the office environment. The results showed that a variety of ambient environmental problems were present in these offices. Also, a clear relationship between job characteristics and attitudes toward the office was demonstrated. Employees who enjoyed performing managerial and technical tasks reacted more unfavorably to office conditions than did clerical staff, who generally viewed their work as undemanding. Loss of privacy and increased disturbances were consistently at the source of these negative reactions, and the interrelationship of these problems also emerged from factor analysis of the data. Although the office did create a favorable social climate, this did not offset employees’ negative reactions to work conditions but rather appeared to exacerbate the problems. Consequently, no evidence was found to support the claim for improved productivity in open-plan…

Cubicles are an acoustic nightmare.

Essentially office noise in an open office (ie an office with few walls and probably many cubicles) was a problem for many workers.  And while it created a semi-fun social environment, most workers viewed the excessive noise adversely.  In addition, those workers who saw themselves as less important than managerial staff had even harsher views of office noise and the inevitable distractions that follow.  Lastly, employees did not like the loss of privacy that accompanied open office plans.

None of this is all that surprising.  Office noise is a real problem on two levels:

Feeling held captive by office noise is frustrating and debilitating because it makes workers feel less valuable and therefore de-motivates them to give their best work, even if they could work through the noise.  Fortunately, office noise does not have to rule your office.  Be sure to check back to see what the findings are for masking office noise as a solution.

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Why You Need Confidential Privacy

February 10, 2011 By

What Sound Masking is

Last time we talked about how sound masking achieves confidential privacy after a quick review of what sound masking is in and of itself, and even in conjunction with other techniques.

It’s easy to see how “tuning out” noise can boost productivity; seeing how it aides in confidential privacy might not be as simple.  Of course the same principles are still true.  However, it’s important to note that while the brain “tunes out” noise with the addition of white noise, it also is unable to decipher specific speech.  This unintelligibility of speech is howspeech privacy is achieved.  Sound masking provides a high level of speech privacy, thus ensuring confidentiality in any treated area.

The main idea was that sound masking renders speech unintelligible and on the speech privacy index, that measures out to provide confidential privacy.  This is great news because it means that a relatively inexpensive technology to install and maintain is an easy solution for sound leaks.  Plus, there’s no need to remodel, add walls, or change your aesthetic appeal because the emitters are installed within the ceiling tiles, and are thus, quite invisible from the office view point.

Why you need confidential privacy

Now that we’ve established what sound masking is and how it aides in providing speech privacy, let’s chat about why you might benefit from confidential privacy.  While not all businesses or companies do require confidentiality, many do.  It may not be life or death (although it could be), but a sound leak in any direction could spell disaster for the life of a business.  Consider whether what is discussed in board meetings, on the phone, behind closed, doors, between colleagues, with clients, with patients, with medical staff, etc. is suitable for anyone passing by to hear.  If the answer is no, then you need to safeguard those conversations and that information.

It’s easy, fast, and highly effective, and you aren’t alone.  There are thousands of companies or organizations like yours that have already benefited from this technology.

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