EDC’s proven design process creates the optimum level of privacy for your space. Our engineers survey site conditions and privacy needs, articulate the scope of work, design the most appropriate hardware and acoustical solution, and verify the result with on-site privacy measurements.

Hardware Alone Cannot Ensure Privacy

Our team provides acoustical consultation and installation of acoustical materials, as well as sound masking hardware. It makes all the difference.

1. Creating Privacy: The ABCs
2. Levels of Privacy
3. The Role of Sound Masking
4. Optimizing Privacy
5. Measuring Privacy
6. The Bottom Line: ROI

plus: Medical Facilities & HIPAA

In a public assembly space where a group of people is listening to a common sound source, it is desirable to have uniformly intelligible sound throughout the room. But in a space used for numerous smaller interactions requiring a reasonable degree of privacy, clearly intelligible sound from other parts of the room becomes a distraction. When these smaller individual uses involve conversation about medical, financial or other personal information, this distraction becomes an infringement of privacy. It then becomes necessary to suppress intelligibility to a degree sufficient to exclude distraction, while still permitting interpersonal communication.

How is the dissemination of sound suppressed? This is usually achieved through some combination of three basic techniques—the so-called “ABC’s” of balanced acoustical design: absorption, blocking, and covering. Two of these are accomplished with the use of passive acoustical materials, and the third employs active electronics.

2. Levels of Privacy

Privacy can be evaluated in terms of the percentage of words NOT understood. For convenience, the various degrees of privacy can be thought of as falling into four broad categories or levels: confidential, non-intrusive/normal, marginal/poor, and no privacy. At the confidential level, words may be audible, but none are understandable. At the non-intrusive / normal level, words can be overheard, but are only partially intelligible. At the marginal/ poor level, conversations taking place nearby are usually both overheard and intelligible, and are distracting. Finally, with no privacy, all conversation is clearly overheard and fully understandable, and is definitely a distraction. The Privacy Index was developed to quantify these levels. It is expressed as a percentage and is shown in the following chart.

3. The Role of Sound Masking

Sound masking systems use electronically generated background noise distributed by overhead loudspeakers (above a suspended ceiling or in the ceiling plane) to cover unwanted sounds. This masking sound is similar to the fan or blower noise from an HVAC system. It is specifically designed to cover human speech frequencies while remaining as unobtrusive as possible. It is an essential element of privacy in open office environments, since acoustical treatment alone rarely achieves satisfactory results.

State-of-the-art masking systems are very soothing, producing a gentle sound spectrum that obscures noise, speech and distracting sounds.

EDC offers many hardware options to create the ideal masking solution to meet each client’s individual needs.

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4. Optimizing Privacy

In most cases, relying exclusively on electronic sound masking to establish privacy produces undesirable side-effects. Speech can be effectively covered if the masking sound is sufficiently loud. But this can result in a work environment that causes fatigue and loss of worker productivity. Creating the desired level of privacy while maintaining worker productivity requires a careful balance of absorption, blocking and electronic covering—the “ABCs” of balanced acoustical design.

Step one minimizes the projection of talkers’ voices. The solid cores of room dividers help to block the direct path of conversations. Sound absorption materials on the ceiling, walls and floor suppress reflected sound. These measures reduce not only speech sound, but also the sound of other activity in the room that may be distracting.

Step two introduces carefully shaped electronic masking sound. This electronic cover is layered on top of the reduced room sound to achieve the desired level of privacy.

 

5. Measuring Privacy

Privacy is measured for several reasons. Prior to the installation of a sound masking system, a privacy survey can establish a profile of existing conditions. With this information, an appropriate scope of work and budget can be developed. Once any needed acoustical remediation and sound masking system are installed, their combined performance can be evaluated and documented. This can also serve to demonstrate compliance with any regulations in force.

The American Society for Testing and Materials has established the standard for measuring privacy (ASTM E 1130-02). The Privacy Index described in that standard is based on the Articulation Index originally developed by Bell Telephone Labs more than seventy years ago. It predicts the percentage of words that will not be understood by a listener.

In the test procedure, a test signal is introduced using a special loudspeaker that has the directional and frequency characteristics of a human voice. Multiple measurements are made with a calibrated microphone in each of fifteen critical frequency bands that are essential for the understanding of speech—both near the sound source, and at a designated “listener” location. A signal-to-noise ratio is derived which is used to calculate the Index. This is an objective, reliable and repeatable test.
 

6. Return on Investment

The Center for the Built Environment (CBE) surveyed 15 large office buildings and found that the majority of workers in open plan offices are distracted by noise. Sixty percent of office workers were dissatisfied with speech privacy in their workplace.

Salary costs for U.S. employers are typically $400 per square foot per year. Masking systems typically cost less than $1.50 per square foot to install. Increases in worker performance of up to 20 percent have been reported; even with an increase of only three percent, return on the initial investment in a masking system in the first year alone is massive.

Employees benefit from a quieter, less stressful work environment, with improved ability to concentrate and still collaborate with colleagues.

Employers benefit from improved attraction and retention of workers, and more satisfied staff. Less turnover and increased productivity results in lower costs and increased revenue. The BOSTI (Buffalo Organization for Social and Technological Innovation) study reported that: “The two work place qualities with the strongest effects on performance and satisfaction are those supporting distraction-free work and supporting interactions with coworkers. Both of these top workplace design priorities must exist without compromising the other.”

Medical Facilities & HIPAA

Oral communication mandates in the Privacy Rule really do matter.

Somehow the message has gotten out that “incidental disclosures” are not a problem under the Privacy Rule of HIPAA, but the truth is that they are excusable only if “reasonable safeguards” have been implemented.

Incidental disclosure of private health information is going to occur, whether from indiscretion or simple happenstance. Service providers need protection from potential liability. That liability will not arise under HIPAA if reasonable safeguards are in place.

The good news is that reasonable safeguards are reasonably achievable. They generally do not involve burdensome and expensive measures such as building walls, or drastic alteration of current work habits. A handful of simple, common-sense measures—with a boost from technology—can produce verifiable, effective results.

• The first step is to apply conventional acoustic treatment, with special attention to the privacy needs of the particular facility. Dividers and partitions block the sound path, while materials such as carpet, curtains, ceiling tiles, and fabric on furniture and panels absorb sound. These measures, while helpful, can’t alone achieve normal privacy—but they can pave the way for a more effective tool.

• The second step is installation of an electronic sound masking system. Electronically generated white noise is carefully filtered to sound smooth and unobtrusive while still covering the frequencies of human speech. It is typically introduced through loudspeakers in or above a ceiling, and sounds similar to a heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) system. Most listeners don’t even notice it.

Such a system meets the requirements of the Department of Health and Human Services that safeguards be based on well-accepted standards, and on “best practices” that have been tried and proven.

A professionally accepted definition of speech privacy exists that is quantifiable and exact. The privacy index and the electronic instruments that measure it have been in existence for decades. A professional privacy evaluation can be used to make recommendations, design masking systems and, most importantly, demonstrate compliance.

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