Soundmask Sound Masking & Speech Privacy
An engineered background sound, tuned and commissioned to the space, so that nearby speech becomes less intelligible and less distracting.
Soundmask is the sound masking system Novico assesses, designs, deploys, commissions and verifies.
Soundmask ceiling-suspended emitter — one of the distributed sources that produce the tuned background spectrum.
Privacy is not only about walls.
Conversations carrying between meeting rooms. Confidential discussions overheard in open areas. Distraction across a workspace. These are speech privacy problems, and they are frequently made worse — not better — by a very quiet office.
Sound masking introduces a controlled, low-level background sound across the space at a carefully designed spectrum. Speech from a distance no longer stands out against the background, so it becomes harder to follow and easier to ignore.
It is not noise cancellation. Nothing is subtracted. A correctly commissioned system sits below the level at which occupants notice it as a distinct sound.
WHERE IT SUITS?
Open-plan workspaces
Meeting and board rooms
Confidential discussion and HR rooms
Counselling and consultation rooms
Reception and waiting areas adjacent to private offices
Assess. Diagnose. Design. Deploy. Verify.
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Assess
Measure background levels, insulation and the conditions in the specific spaces where privacy is failing.
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Design
Determine zoning, emitter layout, target spectrum and levels appropriate to the ceiling construction and use of the space.
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Deploy
Install emitters and control equipment to the designed layout, coordinated with ceiling and services trades.
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Commission & verify
Tune zone by zone to the target spectrum and confirm the result by measurement.
Emitters, controller, commissioning.
Soundmask GQ controller with app-based zone volume, equalisation and scheduling.
Sound masking questions
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An array of emitters distributed through the ceiling void produces an engineered background sound at a carefully tuned spectrum and level. Speech from adjacent areas becomes less intelligible because it no longer stands out against the background.
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No. Noise cancellation uses opposing sound waves to reduce a specific signal, usually close to the ear. Sound masking raises the ambient background level across a space so that distant speech is harder to understand.
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Open workspaces, offices, meeting rooms, confidential discussion rooms and counselling or consultation environments — anywhere distracting or overheard speech is the problem.
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A correctly commissioned system is designed to sit below the level at which occupants notice it as a distinct sound. If a system is audible as noise, it is not commissioned correctly.
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Not always. Masking addresses speech intelligibility and privacy. If the underlying issue is a poor partition, a flanking path or excessive reverberation, that has to be dealt with as well. We assess first, then recommend the right combination.
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Emitters and control equipment are installed to the designed layout, then the system is tuned zone by zone to the target spectrum and level, and verified by measurement.
Where to next
Need a space measured and assessed?
Tell us what you are trying to achieve. We will tell you whether it is something we can measure, model or engineer — and how we would approach it.