Frequently Asked Questions

General Information

What does the VoiceArrest System Sound Like?

Do speech privacy systems cancel out voices?

The most common misconception about this technology is that it cancels or blocks voices.

But as the term "masking" implies, this technology isn’t altering or canceling the sound waves produced by the human voice; it’s adding a low level non-structured background noise that covers or masks over it.

If a manager in an enclosed office doesn’t want to be overhear in the corridor outside their office, speakers would be installed in the corridor to raise the background sound level, thereby masking or covering over their voice that travels out into that corridor.

On the other hand, if speakers had been installed inside the enclosed office, the manager would no longer hear the voices from the corridor, but those in the corridor could hear the manager as clearly as before.

How do sound masking systems work?

It is often assumed that reducing conversational distractions requires developing and specifying so-called quiet workspaces. It turns out that workspaces that are designed to be quiet result in conditions where conversational distractions are increased, not decreased. Most offices today have been designed to be too quiet.

It’s like the old adage, “it’s so quiet you can hear a pin drop.” It isn’t the absolute loudness of the pin drop, but rather the absolute quiet of the environment. Much of what is heard in office settings that is considered a distraction is not absolutely loud, but relatively loud. In other words, the distraction is louder than everything else in the environment at that time.

What Speech Privacy-Sound Masking systems do is to fill in the sound spectrum around you with barely perceptible low-level background noise, so that incoming speech is rendered unintelligible. The masking sound does not cancel but rather covers over intruding voices and noises.

Why isn't added background sound as intrusive as nearby conversations?

Unlike speech, the sound produced by the VoiceArrest™ has no “structure″. Therefore, it is easy for users to acclimate to. The added background sound from the VoiceArrest™ system just fades away; you simply don't consciously hear it. Just like the computer running at your desk, you do hear it, but your mind has simply tuned it out.

How long should it take to adjust to the sound of the VoiceArrest?

When installing a system into existing workspace, where employees are accustom to current noise levels, we recommend that the VoiceArrest be initially set at a lower volume, and gradually increased over about one week until the desired privacy level is achieved. This will eliminate virtually all negative feedback.

We don’t find that this same process is necessary when moving into a new space. Since the employees have no preconceived expectations, they would dismiss the sound as being normal HVAC operation for the building.

How much power does the system consume?

Power consumption is less than 6 watts, meaning you can mask up to 30,000 square feet 24 hrs a day for around $5 a year.

To put this in perspective, 

So for a fraction of the cost of a single lightbulb, you can provide the highest levels of speech privacy for your entire office space.