Our lives are busy and bustling nowadays; that’s not something that many people would raise issues with. Whether we’re in the office at work, in our homes, or out in public, it feels like there’s constant noise and activity happening. Moments of peace or privacy can be difficult to get.
What are our options then, in order to achieve some level of peace in these spaces where it might feel impossible? There are a lot of potential choices, of course, but today, we’ll be focusing on something known as sound masking or privacy speaker. What are they, though, and why aren’t more people talking about them?
Don’t worry, we’ll be answering all of those questions, such as “What is sound masking, masked noise, and privacy speakers?” and more in this article—be sure to stick around to learn more about them!
What are they, then?
Naturally, the first question for us to answer is simple: What are these speakers? For our purposes, we’ll be using the following definition: they are designed to produce a consistent, even sound that helps to mask or cover any unwanted background noises, such as distractions, disruptions, or unpleasant noises. Simple, right?
A quick rundown on their purpose, before we delve deeper, is that they’re intended to create comfortable and focused environments, improving things like concentration, productivity, and general well-being. You can start to see why they’re being added in more spaces!
Where They’re Used
With the basic definition out of the way, let’s consider some of the common spaces where these types of speakers are used. Don’t worry if you don’t see something on the list—these are just some examples (as you can read about here: https://par.nsf.gov/biblio/10109137)!
Office environments: Let’s face it, going into the office and sitting at a desk and/or cubicle every day can be a bit tiring or draining. Privacy or sound masking speakers can be used to create a calmer, more focused environment for employees and serves as a good change of pace as well!
Call Centers: In these, they play a similar role in these spaces as in office environments, but beyond improving focus, privacy speakers can also help to mask any distracting background noises. This means that customers calling with concerns will have a better experience with any operators, as there won’t be background noises interfering with the calls.
Healthcare Settings: While this may not be the first thing that comes to mind when we mention this type of speaker, it’s hard to deny how useful they can be in a healthcare setting. Primarily, they can help patients to relax and to reduce their anxiety levels.
Classrooms: At first glance, it may seem strange to encourage students to listen to anything while they need to be doing their work. However, these types of speakers have been shown to improve focus and concentration for school tasks, so they can be useful in that setting!
Home Offices: Outside of the home isn’t the only place for these speakers; for anyone with a home office, they could easily benefit from these types of options. After all, who wouldn’t want to improve focus and relaxation in a home office, right?
Hospitality Settings: For our final entry on this list, don’t forget that in hospitality settings like hotels, airports, or restaurants, it can be quite beneficial to have a relaxing background noise that masks some of the chaos and loudness that can be inherent to these businesses or areas.
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The Benefits of Sound Masking Speakers
So far, we’ve talked a lot about where they can be used – however, what are the actual benefits of utilizing a sound masking speaker? You can read about some of that in this article, but we’ll be doing our best to cover it as well.
Improved Focus and Concentration: For a bit of context, these speakers will typically emit “white” or “pink” noise, which are designed to help eliminate distractions. These are shown to lower the brain’s ability to pick up on background noise. In turn, this allows you or your employees to focus on whatever task is at hand instead.
Reduced Stress and Anxiety: Of course, we hinted at this earlier as well when discussing hospitality and health care environments. Essentially, the idea is that the constant, soothing sound of sound masking speakers can help us keep calm and reduce our feelings of stress and anxiety.
Increased Productivity: When focus is improved and stress is reduced, it makes sense that general productivity will increase in turn. After all, when distractions are reduced, most people are able to get more done in less time.
Better Sleep: This one may seem like it’s coming out of left field, but if you want to use a speaker like this in your bedroom, you could end up getting better and more restful sleep. The constant and soothing sounds can even help anyone with insomnia or other sleeping disorders – the noise distracts the brain from other thoughts.
Enhanced Customer Experience: For the businesses out there, this point should be of interest. You see, sound masking speakers can create a more comfortable and welcoming atmosphere, improving the experience for customers visiting a retail location, restaurant, hotel, or airport.
Customization Options: Steering in a bit of a different direction, when we think about the hardware of these speakers themselves, they offer a ton of different options as far as customization goes. You can change the type of noise emitted, the volume of it, and more.
Cost-Saving: This may sound strange at first but keep this in mind – sound masking speakers are often more cost-effective than traditional soundproofing methods, such as installing acoustic panels or building additional walls.
Easy Installation: Something that may throw a lot of people off, or intimidate them, is installing a sound system like this. Thankfully, these speakers tend to be quite simple to install, and some retailers will even handle the installation themselves for a small upcharge.
Overall, it’s not hard to see why sound masking and privacy speakers have become more popular lately. Hopefully, this article answers any questions you may have about them!
