Sometimes acoustics and aesthetics appear mutually exclusive. Architects can be guilty of designing spaces with their eyes, not their ears. The reverberance in warehouses and atriums offer two examples of this. Minimalist, glass-filled spaces with shiny, hard surfaces are aesthetically pleasing. But this often comes with the sacrifice of privacy and noise. Unfortunately, adding physical…

Architectural trends have been moving towards open ceilings with exposed services for some time. There are pros and cons to this move, including the acoustic comfort of a space. Low background sound levels and reverberant surfaces require careful treatment when aesthetics are paramount. Soundmask has experience in solving acoustic problems in these challenging spaces. Exposed…

Wherever there are low background sound levels, sound masking can help. Further, guaranteed success comes with acoustic ceiling tiles and carpet where there is low background sound. This is especially true in the ubiquitous open plan office. Noise carries easily between desks, especially conversations, creating an uncomfortable acoustic environment. Open plan offices An open plan…

Before I attended a recent Australian Acoustic Society tech talk, I’d never heard of the term biophilic design. I certainly hadn’t thought about how it might relate to the acoustic environment. Fortunately, PhD researcher, Merve Eşmebaşı was gracious enough to present her research on the subject. Like Soundmask, Merve’s principal focus is on improving human…

Private maternity clients are transferred to the private maternity suites a few hours after the birth of their baby. The purpose of the suites is to allow the mother to recover from the birth in a supported environment. The suites are located within the hospital, where alerts, calls and paging systems operate. The safe arrival…

Our previous two articles on noise pollution in hospitals and healthcare can be found here (Part 1) and (Part 2). In this third and final article, we cover the solutions to these problems. The acoustic ABC principles – “Absorb”, “Block” “Cover” – are a useful way to consider reducing noise pollution. For example, sound can…

The health impacts of noise pollution on patients and workers features in our last article. Continuing on, we tackle the privacy and workplace implications of noise pollution. Privacy breaches An important factor in patient comfort is privacy. Where patients feel that their medical information is private, they are more likely to disclose all relevant information…

Hospitals, medical suites and aged care facilities are all subject to noise pollution. More and more research is appearing to demonstrate problems caused by noise, which include: Noise pollution is also one of the risk factors for staff burnout and negative outcomes for patients. Further, noise pollution affects healthcare facility compliance with privacy and work…

The research into pink noise and sleep has been pioneered by Phyllis Zee at the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Her research is useful because it confirms what we, here at Soundmask, have always known anecdotally: sound masking can be great for sleep. (Especially when it’s masking a disturbing noise that’s preventing you from…

Have you ever suspected a colleague of eavesdropping? Maybe that confidential meeting that you had with your boss has found its way around the office. Or perhaps you’ve heard private conversations that you’d rather not hear? We’ve all been in offices where speech privacy is a problem. I remember working in an office where the…