Traffic noise is one of the more debilitating sounds a human being can experience, long term. This is because continual exposure can impact blood pressure, heart health, mental health, and more. That’s before any of the other negative impacts associated with pollution. We have covered the links between noise and health impacts in previous blogs.…

White noise is often confused or conflated with sound masking. However, it has uses of its own. Primarily in research environments. White noise is a sound where all audible frequencies occur in equal measures. Unlike in sound masking there is no shaping. This is useful for research, including for researchers in this next blog in…

This blog has previously posted about the link between noise and high blood pressure. But did you know that research has now linked noise to adverse heart health impacts, specifically cardiovascular disease? Linking noise and heart disease Over one hundred years ago, the Nobel Prize winner Robert Koch predicted that “One day man will have to fight…

The board room has the same function the world over: as the largest meeting room in the office, the most important, private meetings occur. They’re also a great place for Friday night socialising, but that’s not usually the reason Soundmask is called in! Forest and Wood Products Australia The privacy problem in the board room…

While data breaches often make the news, the problem of sound transmission looms large for those who value speech privacy or simply freedom from unwanted noise. Defining sound transmission Any noise the moves between or through objects can be considered sound or acoustic transmission. In an open plan office, for example, sound can transmit over…

Residential air-conditioning noise shouldn’t be the number one question acoustic consultants get asked to solve. For one thing, the average home owner does not have the means to pay professional fees required. But in this fifth blog in our Acoustics in the Sun series, that exact issue inspired Michael Hayne and Richard Devereux to prepare a paper…

Did you know there’s been quite a lot of research into noise and blood pressure? In fact, there’s more than you might expect. This makes sense given that high blood pressure (also known as “hypertension”) is a precursor to heart disease—the leading cause of death globally. Anything that might induce hypertension is worth studying in…

When you think of movable walls, it might bring to mind university lecture theatres, school auditoriums, or classrooms. It might not be the first thing you think about when you’re confronted with hotel noise problems. Conferences and meetings But, for most hotels, accommodation is only one of several revenue sources for the venue. Most hotels…

When you see the headline “bird song and stress”, what does that bring to mind? My initial reaction is to recall the next door’s annoying rooster that used to wake me up at the crack of dawn. Well, that’s not what we’re talking about here. In fact, quite the opposite. Did you know that bird…

Urban greening brings to mind rooftop gardens, tree lined streets, and vines climbing the walls of high-rise buildings. At least for me, it’s always been something aesthetic, rather than acoustic. But this fourth blog in our Acoustics in the Sun series, covers acoustic perception via Timothy Van Renterghem from Ghent University in his paper Audio-visual interactions in…