Today more and more people are working in collaborative open environments, yet the everyday hustle and bustle of an office and distracting and decrease productivity. How do you currently protect sensitive conversations in your open-office space, in executive meetings, or in human resources where privacy is mandated by HIPAA law?

There are a number of options available today that address these issues. Improved construction is one way to minimize noise distraction including using solid doors, walls that rise all the way to the ceiling deck, and acoustical panels. All of these items can help to minimize distraction and increase privacy, but they are very expensive to implement

You could stick headphones on everyone in the office and that may minimize distractions, but what about team collaboration and how would that work for your clients and visitors?

The best solution for all these applications is a quality Speech Privacy Solution, often also referred to as a sound masking system or a white noise system. AtlasIED speech privacy technologies pleasantly raise the ambient sound level in the environment by emitting acoustically optimized white or pink masking noise.

AtlasIED speech privacy systems emit low-level, non-distracting masking noise designed to "mask" distracting noises and reduce speech intelligibility, thereby improving speech privacy. This improvement in speech privacy can be of great value in open-plan offices, doctor's examination rooms, and other environments where confidentiality is essential.

Designed and tuned correctly, the noise generated is hardly noticeable. In fact, most people believe they only hear the ventilation system. Thus distractions and peripheral conversations are efficiently buried in the background sound generated by the system.

As you can see in the above graphic representing an example sound masking curve for a "closed" office environment, the average masking level is extremely low across all frequencies. Properly configuring the speech privacy system is the key to its effectiveness.

What is important to know is that one size doesn't fit all. Your system must be specifically designed to your acoustic space for it to work correctly. A proper speech privacy system includes four parts: a noise generator, an equalizer, an amplifier, and loudspeakers.

Commonly, sound masking loudspeakers are hidden out-of-sight, so the room occupants aren't even aware of the system. They are mounted above ceiling tiles and aimed upward. This provides even distribution coverage as the generated noise reflects from the top ceiling deck and disperses through the tiles below.

Properly configured a speech privacy system will reduce employee distraction and improve productivity as well as improve privacy for conversations that require increased confidentiality. Contact AtlasIED's design specialists for free assistance designing your next speech privacy system.