Ever wondered why noises appear louder at night? It’s because individual sounds and voices are covered in the daytime by other noise, whereas at night there is a lower sound floor making noises and voices more intelligible.
The same principle applies in offices – as building noise is lowered through innovation in areas such as IT and mechanical services (like air conditioning), the background noise level is lowered giving rise to increased employee distraction and loss of privacy.
In recent years, with the rise of the ‘open plan office’, less cubicles, less hard wall office configurations and people sitting in closer proximity, the need for a Sound Masking solution has never been more vital.
Protect privacy!
There are various methods used to address noise control and speech privacy. When designing a solution, known as the ABC’s of acoustic design, the following three methods are considered:
Absorbing – adding elements to absorb sound e.g. carpets
Blocking – placing barriers to block excess sound e.g. partitions
Covering – inserting additional sound to ‘mask’ and ‘cover’ existing noise.
“You can absorb, you can block but the only way you can truly manage risk, is by covering with Sound Masking.”
Adam Glyde – Managing Director, TwistedPair
Increase productivity!
Employees are regularly interrupted by office noise levels that do not have acoustic solutions in place: “Research by a workplace training company found that when employees are asked to formally calculate the time they lose to interruptions, they routinely come up with 40%-60% of their most productive time; that’s about 3-5 hours every day.” [The hidden costs of interruptions at work – https://www.fastcompany.com/3044667/the-hidden-costs-of-interruptions-at-work]
These continuous interruptions increase the likelihood of errors and can have a negative impact on an employee’s exhaustion, stress and health, which in turn can become costly to employers: “The effects of interruptions on workers’ productivity, energy and work satisfaction cost an estimated $588 billion a year in the US, according to the Basex Research.” [6 Jaw-Dropping Facts About Workplace Interruptions – https://imanetwork.org/featured/6-jaw-dropping-facts-workplace-interruptions/]
Invisible to the public!
More businesses than you probably realise have already implemented a Sound Masking solution, a system of electronic audio created by special digital generators and distributed by normally unseen speakers through an area to improve privacy, reduce distractions, stress and worker productivity.
“The sound masking solution provided by TwistedPair is very easy to operate and speech intelligibility outside of the rooms is markedly reduced since the system came into operation.”
Louise Millard – Commercial & Conference Coordinator, Jubilee Library
Reduce noise and distractions in your office. Contact TwistedPair for advice and support on finding the ‘golden silence’ your business needs:
T: 08000 93 80 60
E: info@twistedpair.co.uk
W: www.twistedpair.co.uk
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