https://phys.org/news/2018-06-focus-office-workers.html

Neutral sound signals mask background noise

"The parameters currently applied, as specified in guidelines and standards for acoustic conditioning of office spaces, do not guarantee sufficient and discernably good acoustic quality," says Noemi Martin, a scientist at the Fraunhofer Institute for Building Physics IBP in Stuttgart. Disruptive influences in offices call for creative and innovative solutions. Martin and her colleagues at Fraunhofer IBP thus developed sound masking, a technology that improves the acoustic environment by systematically overlaying bothersome background speech with neutral sound signals (white noise). Sound masking is aimed at reducing the perceived disruptions caused by irrelevant background speech, boosting performance and increasing employees' sense of privacy. Particularly in open-plan offices, poor acoustics and close contact lead to frequent interruptions and a significant limitation of privacy. The appropriate systems can be integrated into the architecture or the furniture – in some cases even concealed. "To improve acoustic conditions, sound is added to the environment, which seems counterintuitive to most people. The ambient noise level is systematically raised, covering up colleagues' conversations by reducing the intelligibility of speech," says Martin, explaining the basic principle of sound masking.