Open office environments, like almost any other human space, suffer from an acoustical conflict.
On the one hand, we require an environment where we can effectively communicate with our coworkers. This means we must allow for clear vocal transmission between individuals. On the other hand, we only want our vocalizations to reach their intended target, rather than to the office at large. Unintended noise transmission is distracting and ultimately leads to low worker productivity, among other things.
Open office plans have the potential to be an acoustician's nightmare, but with proper planning and foresight they can become successful acoustic environments. Appropriate building materials, furniture, and partitions play a critical role in acoustic quality. Sound masking is an equally important, but frequently overlooked, element of successful acoustical design:
"Sometimes overlooked by facility executives, a sound masking system is invaluable in an open office space... No matter how acoustically well-planned a space's floor, ceiling, furniture panels and finishes are, a correctly configured sound masking system will always improve speech
privacy." ("Sound Decisions," Building Operating Management, January 2007)
Also important to note is the necessity of professional tuning and calibration of a sound masking system:
"One of the biggest mistakes... facility executives make is installing and tuning a sound masking system themselves... People buy canned units and don't take time to address the whole open plan space. Masking needs to be something that's thought out and planned carefully."
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CCR ASSOCIATES LLC, an acoustical consulting firm specializing in turnkey sound masking and acoustical solutions for office environments. For over ten years CCR has provided acoustical consulting, technical design, and turnkey installation to corporate clientele nationwide.
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2 comments:
Dear Mrs Holland,
I am an MBA student at the Vlerick Management School in Belgium and I am currently engaged in a market study of sound masking systems in the USA and Canada. Your article on sound masking is very interesting. If you don't mind there are a few questions that I would like to ask you to better understand the industry and market of sound masking systems.
1) Who takes the initial decision to put a sound masking system into a building? (Facility Manager, Contractor, Architect, Acoustic Consultant, other?)
2)Who decides what brand (Lencore, Dynasound,...) of sound masking to use in an installation? (Facility Manager, Contractor, Architect, Acoustic Consultant, other?)
3) Based on what criteria is the brand of sound masking system selected? Price, Quality, Availability ,Ease of installation, other ...?
4) What are the most common channels a noise masking system is purchased through? Directly from manufacturer? From specialised distributors? From Online retailers?
Thank you very much for your time and effort.
Kind regards,
Pieter Gillegot-Vergauwen
www.vlerick.be
In answer to your questions:
Who makes the initial decision to put a sound masking system into a building?
This depends on whether you are dealing with a major renovation/new construction or a retrofit of an existing space because of ongoing acoustic problems. Generally, during the design phase of a major renovation or new construction of an office space an acoustical consultant is asked (by the architect, owner, or end user) to give feedback and decide whether the proposed facility would benefit from sound masking.
Who decides what products to use, and what are the criteria of selection?
We custom design each sound masking system, based on the facility and the needs of the end user (what level of speech privacy is required, what building materials are used, etc.). The individual components used are uniquely tailored for each project, to maximize effectivess and minimize cost.
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