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…

Did you know that workplace interruptions and distractions can derail productivity? Research into distractions and productivity dating back decades confirms that interruptions not only reduce productivity, but also impact the quality of work output. Reduced productivity Workers in open plan offices are interrupted by colleagues conversations, intrusive noise, notifications, and other distractions. Research shows that…

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…

I recently read an article reviewing the data on the link between noise stress and mental health. Merve Eşmebaşı had touched on it during her presentation on biophilic design, so I knew that there was an adverse link. But I had no idea how bad it was. To quote the paper: exposure to noise, particularly…

This is our third blog in our Acoustics in the Sun series. Find the second article here. Today’s features Tim Beresford and Max Cyril’s paper titled: Design and implementation of a masking system for tonal industrial noise emissions. This was an exciting paper for me, because it confirmed what I’d always suspected: masking can work…

Soundmask has installed many systems in government tribunals and justice facilities. Today we’re going to explain the benefits and give some examples of use. Why do tribunals need masking? Government tribunals are primarily part of the administrative justice system. Similar to courts, tribunals decide matters like social security disputes, guardianship orders, and other sensitive matters…

Thorne Harbour Health (formerly, The Victorian AIDS Council Inc) provides professional, affordable counselling for individuals and couples who are affected by or at risk of HIV, and for members of the GLBT community. The client approached Soundmask seeking a solution to speech privacy and noise problems in its head office. The office consisted of two…

There are many specific purposes for sound masking, but they all come down to three primary purposes: This blog article will explain each of these three purposes. Reducing intrusive noise Intrusive noise is any noise that distracts or intrudes in a space. In an office space, that might include people typing or talking, like the…

This is the second article in our Acoustics in the Sun series. You can find the first one here. Today features Maggie Zhang’s paper titled: Choral singers’ perception of on-stage reverberance during an Australian tour. This paper piqued my interest because I like churches and listening to choral music. What’s not to love about hymns…

When someone speaks of reverberance, it might bring to mind Phil Collins’ heavy use of reverb in In The Air Tonight, or Led Zeppelin’s in When The Levee Breaks. Yes, both are good examples of “reverb”. But when we’re talking about architectural acoustics, that’s not exactly what we mean when it comes to the reverberation…