How Sound Masking Can Help the Post COVID-19 Workplace
No matter the extent to which the office environment may change because of the pandemic, the potential for noise distractions, lack of speech privacy and comfort will remain. Sound masking is a cost-effective solution to solve these problems.
Changes business owners have made or plan to make in the physical workspace that will dramatically alter an office environment’s acoustics:
84%
Physical Separation of Workstations
69%
Install COVID Barriers Between Workstations
41%
Change to Antiviral Surfaces
Social distancing guidelines will make the “new” office feel quieter than ever. With less people in every space, even the smallest noise can become a point of great annoyance and fixation. Conversely, the widespread installation of highly reflective surfaces (plexiglass/anti-viral) will create an “echoing” effect to further degrade the office environment’s acoustics.
Sound masking “neutralizes” the environment by adding a consistent level of ambient background sound. By controlling the acoustics of a space, you control both productivity and comfort. With an improved acoustical environment, as employees return to the workplace, sound masking can provide a place to speak without having conversations understood by others (speech privacy) and can better concentrate without distraction (greater productivity) therefore improving the overall comfort of the space.
Source: Mckinsey & Company: How US companies are planning for a safe return to the workplace.