Sound Masking
October 8, 2015 10:41 AM Subscribe
Our office has an open-layout plan with no cubicles. Lately I have been noticing other people's conversations are getting picked up on phone calls in the office. Is sound masking the solution to solving this issue?
If so, do you have any recommendations for sound-masking devices or people who install these types of systems? The office is in Michigan. Switching to cubicles or separate offices is undesirable because employees need to communicate with each other often during the day.
If so, do you have any recommendations for sound-masking devices or people who install these types of systems? The office is in Michigan. Switching to cubicles or separate offices is undesirable because employees need to communicate with each other often during the day.
Oh, but as a temporary measure, look into buying headsets like they use in call centers. They're designed to pick up noise from just around the microphone; you can get wireless ones so you aren't chained to the desk. Plantronics ones are nice in my experience, but I'm sure there are good competitors and probably better equipment out there.
posted by SMPA at 11:03 AM on October 8, 2015
posted by SMPA at 11:03 AM on October 8, 2015
this is an aside that doesn't answer the question directly...
employees need to communicate with each other often during the day can be code for: "We, as management, need to interrupt and change priorities often during they day. Also, we think drive-bys between peers are more productive than focused, scheduled conferences."
Dunno if yours is tech work, but here's this from a tech company.
I worked remotely for years, and with today's tools, there is very, very little that cannot be collaborated with remotely. Desktop video conferencing, desktop shares, IM, collaborative sketch-up apps...there is just very lttle that requires anyone to physically be within three feet of me or to have them physically see the photons bouncing directly off my face.
So, while not solving your problem, at least understand that this [no cube walls/no offices] is a self-imposed constraint to whatever solution.
posted by j_curiouser at 11:05 AM on October 8, 2015
employees need to communicate with each other often during the day can be code for: "We, as management, need to interrupt and change priorities often during they day. Also, we think drive-bys between peers are more productive than focused, scheduled conferences."
Dunno if yours is tech work, but here's this from a tech company.
I worked remotely for years, and with today's tools, there is very, very little that cannot be collaborated with remotely. Desktop video conferencing, desktop shares, IM, collaborative sketch-up apps...there is just very lttle that requires anyone to physically be within three feet of me or to have them physically see the photons bouncing directly off my face.
So, while not solving your problem, at least understand that this [no cube walls/no offices] is a self-imposed constraint to whatever solution.
posted by j_curiouser at 11:05 AM on October 8, 2015
Response by poster: These are the headsets we currently used in the office. Maybe 2 or 3 simultaneous calls at once tops, the main problem are other people having conversations in the office being picked up on calls. Open nature of the office has to remain the same due to the collaborative aspects of our work, unfortunately.
To get specific, we handle a large volume of clients online, with no queuing system, and employees have to be in communication with each other so that they know which person has which clients. We've tried remote / mobile employees and it doesn't work, IM is not instantaneous as telling the person next to you to grab x and y clients. And if everyone isn't in a room together, you have a lot of issues with knowing whether that person is at their desk or not too.
posted by banished at 11:18 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
To get specific, we handle a large volume of clients online, with no queuing system, and employees have to be in communication with each other so that they know which person has which clients. We've tried remote / mobile employees and it doesn't work, IM is not instantaneous as telling the person next to you to grab x and y clients. And if everyone isn't in a room together, you have a lot of issues with knowing whether that person is at their desk or not too.
posted by banished at 11:18 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]
I was just in the offices of a large drug company that has a wonderful partially-open office plan. Part of this open office includes these small seating areas, where maybe up to six or so people can sit around a table and talk, surrounded on three sides by dark, thick, quilted material (think: a couch with two armchairs on either side, with a seven foot tall, maybe 3" thick felt/cotton quilt wrapped around the backs of all three seating areas). They mention that this is exactly the reason they have these things--the company encourages conversations and spontaneous away-from-desk meetings, but they want to keep the noise down and give the groups a semblance of semi-privacy.
I'm having trouble finding a link to similar products, but you can always simply hang a couple quilts around your space.
That said, a lot of open offices these days have cubicle-type areas for just this reason. Things like this aren't meant to be permanent desks, but rather a privacy space to be used as needed.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 11:24 AM on October 8, 2015
I'm having trouble finding a link to similar products, but you can always simply hang a couple quilts around your space.
That said, a lot of open offices these days have cubicle-type areas for just this reason. Things like this aren't meant to be permanent desks, but rather a privacy space to be used as needed.
posted by late afternoon dreaming hotel at 11:24 AM on October 8, 2015
What do you mean by sound masking devices exactly? The only real masking options are noise machines, and the huge problem with those is that you basically have to get the RMS level (loudness, more or less) of the noise machine to exceed the level of the speech you want to cover up at the place you want it covered up. So then your going to have the masking noise picked up on the phone call, and then the people on the phone are going to start speaking above the masking noise, and then the people next to them will have to turn up their masking noise, at it's sort of turtles all the way down from there.
Some padding on the floor/walls will make your room a little less diffuse so you'll get less reverb. Though it's hard to say the degree to which the reverb itself is contributing to people on the phone picking up conversations.
There's only three ways to make something quieter: turn down the signal (people need to talk softer), put more distance between you and the signal (move away from people talking) or put something between yourself and the signal (abandon the open office space).
posted by Lutoslawski at 12:37 PM on October 8, 2015 [3 favorites]
Some padding on the floor/walls will make your room a little less diffuse so you'll get less reverb. Though it's hard to say the degree to which the reverb itself is contributing to people on the phone picking up conversations.
There's only three ways to make something quieter: turn down the signal (people need to talk softer), put more distance between you and the signal (move away from people talking) or put something between yourself and the signal (abandon the open office space).
posted by Lutoslawski at 12:37 PM on October 8, 2015 [3 favorites]
Do your headsets have a monitor function?
If not, it may be worth getting some stereo headsets which have this, in my experience it makes people able to talk much more softly on headset calls when they have a small amount of their own voice being fed back to them.
I use a Microsoft LX-6000 which I've found great in a small, call-heavy, open-plan office environment.
posted by protorp at 1:00 PM on October 8, 2015
If not, it may be worth getting some stereo headsets which have this, in my experience it makes people able to talk much more softly on headset calls when they have a small amount of their own voice being fed back to them.
I use a Microsoft LX-6000 which I've found great in a small, call-heavy, open-plan office environment.
posted by protorp at 1:00 PM on October 8, 2015
I work in an open office that has a white noise system installed. I didn't even know we had it until someone accidentally turned it down one day. You could hear a pin drop and people's stomachs growling. It was awful. Then someone turned it back up and all was right in the world. It sounds like an airconditioning system on low and it's extremely easy to tune out. We have sales people making calls at their desks on a regular basis and there have been no complaints about background noise. I don't know much about it other than it looks like hanging light fixtures (they are actually speakers and very unobtrusive), there's a knob in our server room that controls it, and it's a godsend.
posted by Fuego at 5:51 PM on October 10, 2015
posted by Fuego at 5:51 PM on October 10, 2015
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I can tell you now that managing sound in an open room that wasn't built to suppress noise is going to be pricey and after a lot of money is spent you are likely to have the same problems. We added pads to the walls, increased the height of existing cubes, added white noise machines, and constantly told people to be quieter - nothing helped.
(Disclosure: I cannot function in open offices, and consider them to be of Satan's own design. However, every single person in that part of the building agreed the sound was awful and that nothing we did was helping. We seriously paid consultants and everything. After a year my boss finally admitted what we said at the beginning: there was no way to turn that space quiet without putting up actual walls.)
posted by SMPA at 10:59 AM on October 8, 2015 [1 favorite]