Approximately 50 million Americans work in open plan offices. Open plan offices are environments in which workers do their job in closely-grouped cubicles. Though these cubicles are more space-efficient and improve the communication between workers, they are an acoustic challenge.

Conventional walls are being replaced by modular workstations, as more workers are using the same working space, and everyone is seated in close proximity to one another. You will also see, though, that modern building methods, along with absorptive actions, and quiet machines, have decreased the ambient level of office noise, reducing the volume considerably.

Sound masking - often referred to as "white noise" - has been a particularly successful solution. A sound masking system contains a set of speakers that produce an engineered background sound all through the facility. This hum is for the most part frequently compared to that of gently blowing air.

The main benefit of sound masking includes reduced conversational distractions and a normally more relaxed working atmosphere. The sound masking system can be easily installed in new or existing facilities of any dimension, providing an efficient way of tackling acoustic troubles at small cost and without serious modification.

An example of sound masking that you might be very familiar with occurs in your home on a regular basis. Consider the situation where you are in the kitchen doing dishes, and a person in an adjacent room speaks to you. You will recognize a voice, but probably be unable to make out the actual words, due to the sound level of running water.

It could potentially be of help to know that a noise floor is simply the level of regular sound current in an environment. It can be wearisome and annoying if it is too high, but, if the noise floor is too low, it can be very easy to hear distracting noises and conversations.

Privacy can be achieved via masking, which establishes a noise level sufficient to hide intrusive noises, but sufficiently low so as not to be bothersome, usually in the range of 42-48 dBA. Thus these systems can successfully drown out irritating sounds while not being disruptive themselves.

Conventional walls are being replaced by modular workstations, as more workers are using the same working space, and everyone is seated in close proximity to one another. You will also see, though, that modern building methods, along with absorptive actions, and quiet machines, have decreased the ambient level of office noise, reducing the volume considerably. Sound masking systems consist of speakers which emit an overall sound throughout a factory or office. This is often described as sounding like the humming of a gentle breeze. Privacy can be achieved via masking, which establishes a noise level sufficient to hide intrusive noises, but sufficiently low so as not to be bothersome.