Speech privacy.
The inability of an unintentional listener to understand another person’s conversation.
For the past 4 to 6 years we have seen a transformation trend in office spaces to create a more open collaborative workspace. Initially the walls where giving way to larger spaces for office desks with higher partitions or cubicles. Today, concrete walls are hacked off and lower partitions between cubicles are implemented, resulting in little physical separation between employees’ desks.
This transformation of the workplace makes it harder to maintain the level of privacy and this is a concern in many occasions. Apart from that, overhearing conversations creates a distraction in a working environment.
Some studies reveal on average, a worker loses 21 to 48 minutes of work a day due to distractions. In some occasions, this can lead to frustration if an employee is trying to focus on a task on hand. This obviously affects the overall performance and efficiency of each person. At the end of the day, this costs companies money.
The two main advantages of speech privacy are:
- Freedom from distractions in the working environment.
- Keeping conversations private in order to protect information.
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In order to achieve certain level of speech privacy, we make use of Sound Masking Systems. However, when do you know you need a Sound Masking System? If you have been receiving complaints from employees saying that they are unable to concentrate due to noises in the workplace or if you notice an office location where sensitive conversations can be heard by others, then you need to consider implementing a Sound Masking System.
There are some false myths about Sound Masking Systems, many clients think that these systems are an unassailable solution to bring down the level of noise in the office to zero, or it creates invisible barriers between areas where the sound will not pass through. Unfortunately, Sound Masking Systems is not able to achieve that. For this reason, it is very important to explain to clients how Sound Masking Systems work and how it can improve their working environment.
In order to provide our clients with the best sound masking, ESCO has certified personnel from Cambridge Sound Management who are able to design sound masking systems. If you have such requirements, please do not hesitate to contact us for further information.
