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 Confidential Conversations |
| It is often assumed by planners, architects, and designers that reducing "conversational distractions" requires developing and specifying "quiet" workspaces. However, workspaces that are designed to be "quiet" result in conditions where "conversational distractions" are increased and "conversational privacy" is decreased. |
| Most offices today have been designed to be too quiet. It's like the old adage, "it's so quiet you can hear a pin drop." It isn't the absolute "loudness" of the pin drop but rather the absolute "quiet" of the environment. Much of what can be overheard between enclosed offices, in hallways, waiting rooms, and open areas outside of conference rooms and enclosed offices is not "absolutely loud" but "relatively loud." |
| In other words, the confidential conversation is louder than everything else in the surrounding environment at that time. In fact, in quiet workplace conditions, "conversational privacy" may only be achievable by increasing the levels of background sound. |
| A Common Misconception |
| The use of a speech privacy system prevents people in adjoining offices, hallways, or other common areas from overhearing potentially sensitive information through the walls or doorways. |
| The most common misconception with regard to protecting confidential conversations is placement of the emitters or speakers. It is assumed by most that the "source" of the conversation should be treated (i.e., background noise added where the conversation originates) when in fact the "destination" to which the conversation travels must be treated (i.e., background noise added to adjoining offices, hallways, or common areas). |
| A speech privacy system "fills in" the sound spectrum in these areas with a barely perceptible low-level background noise so the incoming speech is rendered unintelligible. The masking sound does not "cancel" but rather "covers over" intruding voices. |
| In some workplaces, adjoining offices may be both a "source" and a "destination" of confidential conversations, which requires both areas to be treated. |
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VoiceArrest™ is a trademark of Speech Privacy Systems.
QT™ is a trademark of Cambridge Sound Management. |
