There is a current hot trend in commercial offices to design open floor plans to instigate more community and therefore increased positivity to breed more efficient work. The thinking is if you allow employees to see and interact with each other more – rather than confined to cubicles, like prison cells – they will enjoy being at work more and thus turn in better work.
The obvious downside to office open floor plans when it comes to acoustics is you’re essentially designing a cave! And what do we associate with caves? Echo and reverberation, the enemies that sound control techniques aim to defeat. Due to this, daily I hear from clients who have crafted a masterful open office floor plan that is stunning, yet once they got their employees in there they discovered a cacophony of noise due to the cavernous expanse. I help them deploy soundproofing and sound control techniques to solve this problem, but it turns out there is a larger, unrelated problem: employees find the noise of open office floor plans, even when tuned appropriately with sound control materials, to be distracting. This destroys the entire argument that these spatial designs improve efficiency!
In fact, one study polled 2000 employees who worked in open office spaces and found that 60% (!) were unable to concentrate due to the noise and thus had worse efficiency and productivity. This is a problem, and changing offices is not a feasible solution. Thankfully, there is a great solution that can be readily implemented: sound masking.
In this article, I will define and detail what sound masking is and how it is utilized to create a background noise that virtually eliminates the sounds that causes poor efficiency in open office floor plans, as well as sound control and soundproofing techniques that can be used in conjunction with sound masking to create the perfect acoustic environment to optimize your workforce.
What is Sound Masking?
Sound masking is a technique whereby specific ambient sounds are played through a speaker system to acoustically mask the noises of an office. Let’s consider a visual analogy to understand. Let’s say there is a large office space where everything is painted white – the walls, furniture, everything – and all of the employees are wearing different, bright colors. Visually, everybody stands out against the white and it is a major distraction. Now imagine that the walls are painted with many colors in interwoven patterns, and all of the furniture, desks, and other items are each different colors, too. Within this matrix of colors, the fact that the employees are all wearing different colors simply fades into the background and the entire space becomes cohesive.
In this way, sound masking is the playback of sound to intermingle with the sounds of the office so that office sounds are not distinct and just blend into the whole, eliminating their destructive qualities.
The noise produced by an effective sound masking system must comprise of two qualities: the sound must be random, as to have no context so that it isn’t obvious (think about how obvious the sound of a barking dog is), and it must be broadband, or composed of many different frequencies within the audible spectrum for humans.
Sound Masking vs. White Noise
You’ve likely heard of white noise, the collection of random frequencies played back at the same intensity level often used to help with sleep and concentration. It would seem that playing white noise in the office is what I’m describing with sound masking – playing random, broadband noise – but sound masking is a bit different. While white noise is also randomly constructed and is effective for some, it can also be irritating, due to its sonic properties and artificialness.
The sounds selected for sound masking are tuned for human speech and therefore far better suited to achieve the goal of a cohesive and pleasing sonic atmosphere. Additionally, sound masking systems are designed to be consistent and dynamic, calibrated within an office space strategically to achieve the best results. White noise, on the other hand, is a one-size-fits all solution and cannot meet the complex sonic demands of an office.
How Sound Masking Works to Increase Office Productivity: Eliminating Noise and Preserving Speech Privacy
As mentioned, open floor plans seek to create an optimized work environment powered by our ancient communal spirit, but, as it turns out, we enjoy confidentiality as much as we like community. Swinging the pendulum from one to the other by eliminating cubicles and partitions has led to numerous studies noting that employees decrease their face-to-face interaction. One study even found that open office floor plans led to a 56% increase in email interaction between employees working in the same space!
While visual privacy is a concern, noise is by far the largest complaint from open office employees, specifically speech privacy. Common noise found distracting in open office floor plans include:
- Bad music
- Typing
- Tapping
- Loud eating
- Coughing and Sneezing
- Conversations and Gossip
Negative Effects of Noise on Employees
Saying that noise is simply a distraction from task completion only scratches the surface. A study from Cornell identified employees in a noisy environment made 40% fewer attempts to solve a difficult problem. And for those who say, “well, I’m good at blocking noise out,” a study from Plantronics found that only 1% of employees were capable of doing this. When optimize-forward executives see a result that essentially means 0, a change has to be made.
If that wasn’t bad enough, noise can also have physiological effects and cause physical harm! One study found that loud noises can lead to elevated cortisol levels long term, which equates to stress. Adding additional stress to your workforce is the complete opposite of optimization. Other studies have found noise can contribute to increased cardiovascular stress, and can even cause employees to have bad posture, exacerbating stress by a weakened musculoskeletal system.
This is a significant array of issues, and it simply covers noise generally. The #1 complaint for employees is speech privacy, which has to do with comfortability and thus stress. Being uncomfortable in the office, or limiting what you say and your interactions, is the antithesis of optimizing productivity. The good news is sound masking is the perfect and simple solution to completely eradicate noise and create an environment where speech can be private.
The Benefits of Sound Masking
While the whole goal of open office floor plans is to increase worker happiness and thus efficiency, it requires sound masking to seal the deal. This review found that sound masking provided a 48% improvement on the ability to focus, a reduction of worker stress by 27%, and even a 10% reduction in work task errors. With the focus on optimization in modern work environments, these are massive benefits.
Sound masking:
- Reduces Noise Distractions
- Protects Speech Privacy
- Improves Workplace Acoustics
How to Design a Sound Masking System
ABCs of Sound Masking – Absorb, Block, Cover
When designing a sound masking system, there are 3 components that need to be addressed:
Three Design Components of a Sound Masking Systems
1. Zoning
Zoning refers to breaking the office space down into zones so that the generated sounds are appropriate for each. As a simple example, let’s think about a main, open work area, a conference room, executive suites, and a breakroom. Each of these rooms are not only different in size, but what occurs in them is different and will need a unique sound mask.
2. Speakers
It’s important that the speakers within each zone are of the same make and model so that the finished sound mask is cohesive by ensuring correct frequency response.
3. Room Response
Each room, or zone, should have a similar room response to maximize effective sound masking. As it relates to both speakers and room response, it’s important to understand the type of ceiling you have to appropriately design the system, whether an open ceiling or a plenum. Below I will discuss common acoustical techniques to ensure ideal room response via sound control and/or soundproofing strategies.
Once these three design components are identified, we can then craft the sound masking systems with 6 hardware components.
The 6 Hardware Components of a Sound Masking System
1. Masking Generator
This is the device that generates the specified random signals.
2. Spectrum Equalizer
This device takes the generated signals and converts them to signals available to the human ear.
3. Audio Mixer
The audio mixer takes the signals processed by the spectrum equalizer and sets this to appropriate levels.
4. Amplifiers
Like an electric guitar amplifier, amplifiers are utilized to boost the appropriately leveled signals from the mixer to increase their amplitude (loudness).
5. Zone Controllers
The amplified signals are then passed to zone controllers, devices used to control the sounds independently based on the need of each zone.
6. Speakers
The zone controllers send the signals through appropriately placed and positioned speakers for the sound to finally make its way into the office zone so that it is audible within the sonic space.
Implementing Soundproofing and Sound Control to Dramatically Improve Sound Masking
It might be that your office is in need of improved acoustics for sound masking to achieve its great promise. For example, if you have leaky windows that allow in noises from the exterior like traffic or the sounds of landscaping equipment, this likely will interfere with the sound masking system, or even negate it! Similarly, if you have high ceilings that create a cavern-like expanse, echo and reverb are going to be a problem, and the combination of office noise and a sound masking system could make even more.
In the acoustics world, these are our two weapons to craft great acoustics: soundproofing and sound control. Soundproofing, also known as sound blocking, works to prevent sounds from transmitting through materials, like traffic coming in from a window or the sounds of the main office entering private offices and executive suites. Sound control, also known as sound absorption, works to tone sounds, or remove unwanted reverb and echo, so that it sounds better. By shoring up your office space with one or both of these techniques, you can craft the ideal acoustic environment for sound masking to work its magic.
To learn more about soundproofing and sound control techniques and products for the office, check out this in-depth article.
Work with Acoustical Solutions to Craft the Optimal Acoustic Foundation for Sound Masking
Sound masking is a powerful new technique that demonstrably improves workplace efficiency. Since open office floor plans are the trend for now, it is imperative to consider such a system if you’re hoping to get the most out of your workforce. And to make sure it works as it should, you’re going to need to verify the acoustic foundation of your space and enhance it with soundproofing and sound control strategies.
Give me a call today and I’ll gladly help to understand your current issues and guide you to the right products and strategies to craft the best acoustic environment to aid in your success.
To learn more about how Acoustical Solutions can solve your noise control problems, use our contact form, call one of our Acoustical Sales Consultants at (800) 782-5742, or visit us on the web at acousticalsolutions.com.
