International Noise Awareness Day
It’s international noise awareness day which means we get to talk about noise and sound masking in the office again. This global campaign aims to raise awareness of the impact of noise on the health and welfare of people, something that we at Remark feel very passionate about.
On the 25th anniversary of International Noise Awareness Day, we wanted to talk about the effects of unwanted noise on employees in the office.
Why do we care about noise?
Noise is unwanted sound; you can take a look at this video of Dr Nigel Oseland discussing what noise is here. In the short term, noise causes stress, and as most of us understand, stress can be detrimental to your health and wellbeing. In the long term, noise can cause hearing loss and have an affect your blood pressure.
Controlling noise in a confined environment, like an office, is very important to ensuring the health and wellbeing of employees.
Often, when designing an office, the acoustical properties can be overlooked and can sometimes go unnoticed until the office is at its full capacity. It is not too late to rectify these issues at this stage; Remark Group have been installing and designing sound masking solutions for the past five years and we are yet to stumble on an environment that we can not treat.
What is sound masking?
If you haven’t heard us talk about sound masking, then where have you been. Sound masking is a technology consisting of a series of emitters or speakers, that inject a layer of sound into the space that is treated. The sound that is injected into the space has been engineered to match the frequencies found in the human voice, this way they blend into the environment and add an ambient level of sound for human speech to adhere to.
Sound masking for offices
With over half of the workforce in open plan or shared offices, noise distraction is a major concern. Sixty-four percent of UK office workers have overheard sensitive or confidential conversations in the workplace with almost half of the workplace reluctant to discuss a sensitive issue in the workplace with fear of being overheard.
Sound masking for offices is a great way of diffusing unwanted and distracting noises. Not only does it enhance privacy in the office, but sound masking is also an effective way of improving the overall comfort of the office.
Sound masking for meeting rooms
One in four UK office workers say that their working environment is not conducive to productive working with over a third of people saying that their workplace would benefit from a private area for employees to use.
Sound masking for meeting rooms offers almost 100% speech privacy. When treating a meeting room, Remark Group ensure that they treat the outside of the meeting room as well as the inside. This way, not only can important conversations not escape from the meeting room but distractions surrounding the meeting room can’t travel in.
How can Remark help?
With the installation of sound masking in your meeting rooms, open plan offices and break out areas, it can help to protect client information, confidential business plans and sensitive conversations.
Remark Group have worked with a variety of different clients with their sound masking needs, including law firms, call centres and HR offices. Our sound masking solutions are designed to deliver an unobtrusive background noise which imitate airflow, masking background noises in the office environment and thereby reducing distractions and increasing productivity.
You can find out more on our sound masking solutions here or get in touch today to discuss your needs further with our specialist team.
