Liforce offers a wide range of Osteopathy services at their Malvern suites, as well as Traditional Chinese Medicine, Remedial Massage, and other holistic therapies. The suites are next to a busy main road. Having built a successful practice with plenty of clients, only one thing held them back: auditory privacy.

Auditory privacy problems

With practitioners having private and confidential conversations with patients, speech privacy was critical. If placed in adjacent rooms, patients could be heard talking to their health practitioner. This would breach the Health Records Act, potentially incurring penalties from the Health Complaints Commissioner.

To solve this liability problem, like so many other health professionals, appointments had to be staggered so that no one would be treating patients adjacent rooms. This presented an administrative headache, and prevented the practitioners from fully utilising the space.

Liforce tried to solve the speech privacy issues in several ways. This included adding carpet to the walls, installing insulation within the ceiling cavity, and playing music. Unfortunately, none of these solutions worked. This is because adding absorptive materials simply make the space quieter, which often does not solve speech privacy. In this case, speech remained audible between the treatment rooms.

Sound masking solution

Thankfully, Liforce finally came across Soundmask’s systems. A masking system promised to solve their auditory privacy issues once and for all.

At first, the installation proved challenging. Due to the poor access, Soundmask decided to place under floor transducers unobtrusively on shelving units within the treatment rooms (see picture above). This created an even spread of sound.

Soundmask’s system solved the speech privacy problem, and allowed treating practitioners to maintain confidentiality with their clients.

Liforce was happy to end the long journey to solve their speech privacy problems. Speaking of the Soundmask system, our client says, “it is always so effective for our needs”.