 Sales-Related Information |
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| What does the VoiceArrest system sound like? |
The VoiceArrest is a true four-channel system that accurately simulates the turbulent air eddies characteristic of a commerical Heating, Ventilating & Air Conditioning (HVAC) system air movement sound generation. This allows the system to sound entirely natural and unobtrusive.
In fact, someone visiting your office would instantly dismiss the gentle "whooshing" sound, assuming it to be the HVAC system.
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| Do Speech Privacy--Sound Masking Systems cancel out voices? |
The most "common misconception" about this technology is that it cancels or blocks voices.
But as the term "Masking" implies, this technology isn’t subtracting or canceling the voice; it’s adding or substituting a low level non-structured background noise that covers or masks over it.
If a manager in an enclosed office doesn’t want to be overhear in the corridor outside their office, speakers would be installed in the corridor to raise the background sound level, thereby masking or covering over their voice that travels out into that corridor.
On the other hand, if speakers had been installed inside the enclosed office, the manager would no longer hear the voices from the corridor, but those in the corridor could hear the manager as clearly as before.
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| How Do Speech Privacy--Sound Masking Systems Work? |
It is often assume that reducing "conversational distractions" requires developing and specifying, "quiet," workspaces. It turns out that workspaces that are designed to be "quiet", result in conditions where "conversational distractions" are increased not 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 is heard in office settings that is considered a distraction is not “absolutely loud”, but “relatively loud.” In other words, the distraction is louder than everything else in the environment at that time.
What Speech Privacy—Sound Masking systems do is to “fill in” the sound spectrum around you with barely perceptible low-level background noise, so that incoming speech is rendered unintelligible. The masking sound does not “cancel” but rather “covers over” intruding voices and noises.
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| Why isn't added background sound as intrusive as nearby conversations? |
Unlike speech, the sound produced by the VoiceArrest has no "structure". It is easy for users to acclimate to, and the added background sound from the VoiceArrest just fades away; one simply doesn't consciously hear it. (Just like the computer running at your desk, you do really hear it, but you have simply tuned it out).
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| How long should it take to adjust to the sound of the VoiceArrest? |
When installing a system into existing workspace, where employees are accustom to current noise levels, we recommend that the VoiceArrest be initially set at a lower volume, and gradually increased over about one week until the desired privacy level is achieved. This will eliminate virtually all negative feedback.
We don’t find that this same process is necessary when moving into a new space. Since the employees have no preconceived expectations, they would dismiss the sound as being normal HVAC operation for the building.
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| What is involved in determining our needs, and potential investment? |
The VoiceArrest System uses “Direct Field Speech Privacy Technology”, and therefore isn’t affected by distortions created by ceiling assemblies or acoustical spatial variance in the above-ceiling plenum space. Therefore, the need for on-site engineering analysis is eliminated.
We begin by gathering information about the area(s) in which the system is to be installed. Then by using a “floor plan,” and if possible a “reflected ceiling plan,” we can accurately determine the number and placement for the emitters needed.
Once installed, the VoiceArrest Speech Privacy System provides the proper tonal quality and sound levels with unsurpassed spatial uniformity into the designated areas without the need for time consuming, costly tuning adjustments to compensate for acoustical effects.
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For more information or a custom quote, please call (866) 694-1374 |
