If you work in a modern open-office or “cube-farm,” you know the drill. Your morning coffee has finally kicked in and you’re on a roll digging through your to-do list. As you smile and proudly take stock of your record-setting pace, you become vaguely aware of a conversation at a nearby desk. Your ears pick it up as if they had a mind of their own, and like air out of a balloon, all your momentum disappears as your brain begins to make sense of the words you’re overhearing.

Whether it’s the way-too-frequent updates about a colleague’s grandkids or a horrifyingly-thorough description of a coworker’s recent medical procedure, there are things you just don’t want to overhear!
 
Most of the time, though, conversational distractions seem like just minor irritations. Taken together, however, these small distractions decimate worker productivity, costing businesses dearly. One study found that such distractions cut worker productivity by 40% and increased their keying errors by 27%. Imagine the impact to your organization’s bottom line if its employees were 40% more productive!
 
The dangers can be even more dramatic. As a result of recent legislation affecting industries such as health care, an overheard conversation (such as a patient’s diagnosis) can leave an organization open to very costly legal action ($12 million, in the case of one unfortunate hospital). Loose lips still sink ships.
 
The inventors of open office plans were not trying to annoy us, but to help us. They were designed to encourage the free exchange of ideas. In today’s team-centered environment, this obviously has great benefits, so most of us just learn to live with the distractions. But it doesn’t have to be that way! There are ways of preserving the benefits of the open office plan without sacrificing speech privacy.
 
The ABC’s of Speech Privacy
There are three tools used to achieve "speech privacy" in open office environments, and usually some combination of all three works best. Acoustical engineers and consultants generally use a convenient acronym -
"the A, B, C's" – to describe the three ways to control how far sound travels.
 
Absorption of sound waves. Remember your high school gym? Big, concrete walls and ceiling, plus a wooden floor. Even a whisper echoed! That’s of course because concrete and wood don’t absorb sound, they reflect it. An office environment is very similar. Adding carpet and soundabsorbing ceiling tiles can reduce how far sound waves travel.
 
Blocking - Historically, the usual method of achieving speech privacy has been to build walls. In an open office plan, high, sound absorbing cubicle walls are a popular way of blocking.
 
Covering – Adding in background sound to a work area will make nearby sounds much more difficult to understand and will cover up more distant speech entirely. Systems that produce this type of background sound (which typically sound like the air conditioner) have been in wide use since the 1970s and are generically described as "speech privacy systems" or "white-noise systems."the deciding factor. If you’re looking for the one tool with the most “bang for the buck,” sound masking is the way to go.

In terms of the relative effectiveness of these three components (absorption, blocking, and covering), the acronym should probably be spelled "C.A.B's". This is because the most gain can be achieved quicker, cheaper, and with the least disruption by starting with "C" – by employing a low-voltage electro-acoustic background sound system, more often known as a “white noise system.” Sound absorbing ceiling tiles and furniture panels are more expensive per square foot and don’t give you as much bang for the buck; however, when an effective sound masking system is combined with furniture panels or sound-absorbing ceiling tiles, the aggregate benefit can be quite significant.

In an ideal world where cost was no object, you’d probably want to use all three to ensure the highest possible levels of speech privacy. However, for most of us, cost is often the deciding factor. If you’re looking for the one
tool with the most “bang for the buck,” sound masking is the way to go.

This place has some great ways to combat your noisy coworkers - or even noisy family members!