As it may be, it’s not about getting rid of any noise but having control over it. So it seems that when it comes to dealing with noise in the workplace, like most things, isn’t as easy or black and white as one would like it to be. Sound Masking – Solution for Office Background Noise However, on the rare occasion that it is improperly installed, sound masking has been found to lead to increased stress. When properly installed, Sound Masking is an excellent acoustic treatment for background noise.
At that point, other acoustic treatment options should be considered. However, there is a cutoff, above which it is no longer recommended to continue increasing speaker volume, often-times around 50 dBA. The idea is that a louder background, ambient noise will be more successful at masking unwanted sounds. Sound masking speakers are also tuned too loud at times, especially when noise complaints are very common.
White noise machine for office install#
Due to cost constraints, it is cheaper to install speakers in only the loudest areas.The “transition zone” from the noisy office areas to quieter areas are generally not appealing to the naked ear, and often-times cause complaints when implemented in the field. However, it is best engineering practice to provide homogeneous background noise in a space, meaning that the speaker coverage is consistent everywhere. Transition zones are particularly problematic, because sound masking is often only needed in certain loud spaces. The most common issues that can lead to negative side effects are 1) Transition Zones and 2) Excessively Loud Speakers. Many times employees are reticent to embrace sound masking systems, often-times due to a past work experience where it was improperly employed. Negative Effects of Sound Masking – Are there Side Effects of White Noise? Sound masking provides background noise to “mask” distracting noises. Open Offices often have noise complaints due to lack of walls or doors for sound reflection. However, when the noise level increased to 85 decibels (the sound of a garbage disposal), thinking became so difficult that the creativity boost they had went away. When the noise level increased, participants had more difficulty thinking, leading to more abstract and “big picture” ideas. Surprisingly, participants performed worse when listening to low noise (50 decibels – the equivalent of a large office) than when listening to high noise (70 decibels – a little quieter than a noisy urban area during the day). Participants were asked to brainstorm unique uses for a brick while listening to different levels of noise. A recent study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign looked at how different noise levels affected creativity. However, there are some exceptions to this. Silence might be the one tried and true way to improve attention and cognitive performance for everyone in the workplace. Interestingly enough though, children with attention problems actually performed better with the white noise machine. The study showed that children with no attention problems had more difficulty paying attention during class than with a white noise machine. So if background music doesn’t help with cognitive tasks on the workplace, can you use a white noise machine instead? Perhaps not, according to one study on school children in a middle-school setting. Extroverts were affected less than introverts while performing cognitive tasks such as reading and writing, paying attention and working with numbers, while introverts performed much better when the background music was LA (low arousal) or there was complete silence. Turns out background music on all levels affected task performance on both groups to some extent. A recent study in Glasgow, UK looked at how background music effects introverts and extroverts. Some of us like to listen to music in the background while we work but is that actually beneficial? It depends. Related: Acoustic Treatments in Offices and Commercial Projects See How Commercial Acoustics uses Sound Masking to eliminate Office Noise Complaints One of the biggest entrepreneurship centers in the country, located at the University of Tampa has even purchased soundproof quiet pods where entrepreneurs can gather by themselves or with others to get away from the bustling noise just outside the pod. Major companies and organizations such as Google are investing in creative ways to give their employees more privacy to help their focus and overall mental state. It helps us get our work done, problem solve, relax and overall just reflect on the things that matter the most.
0 kommentar(er)
