810-Uncaster Firming, Saturday, Fabruary 22,1986 Turn on pink noise fcr more quiet WASHINGTON - Sometimes you’ve got to fight with noise. Turn on some “pink” noise, and whishssssssshhh. Suddenly the hubbub in the room seems to diminish. The right blend of pink noise may sound like nothing more than the whish of air coming out of an air coming out of an air con ditioner, but it can be enough to mask the daily clatter of office activity, particularly in open of fices that have no doors or solid walls The actual level of everyday noise doesn’t drop one decibel, but the people working there think a relative hush has settled upon them. Within the last decade, noisemakers have been designed into the acoustical systems of some new office buildings. Ran dem-noise generators operate in combination with sound-absorbing ceilings, and floor and wall coverings, which reduce noise levels. Randem noise, unlike music, has no tonal qualities Specific spectra of random noise have been labeled pink and white Acoustical Perfume “Sound-masking systems cover up leftover noises by being louder, but innocuous and ignored They’ve been called acoustical perfume. Fortunately a sound similar to swishing air is just right for speech-masking. It can be shaped to cover the sound of the male voice, which automatically takes care of some other office noises,” says Larry Philbnck, an acoustic consultant with Bolt Beranek and Newman, of Cam bridge, Mass. Sound masking is used primarily in large open-office areas, but has been designed also for places such as psychiatrists’ and lawyers’ offices and college music buildings. In a typical floor of open offices, BLACK REP iBUOW BLUE LT. GREY ICE BOATING : THESE SORTS ms USED FOR PLERSORE swung rnpcompevtive RRQHG. TREYBR/MOVER THEfCE HT VERY N/GH SPEEDS. THE FIRSTRE BORTU/HS 3U/L T/NII9O BY OLIVER BOOTH. IN Tf/RT TERR CONTEST'S UJEREHELD ON THE HOPSON RIVER. PN UNOPF/CPL. SPEED OF 163 MILES PER. HOUR CURS REACHED 1H1938. the background whish is tran smitted through a series of loud speakers concealed above the ceiling. The sound is generated by two pink-noise generators. Pink noise, so-called in an analogy with the light spectrum, is predominated by low-frequency sound. Two equalizers shape the sound and amplifiers increase it. Sound-masking systems run on little electricity and are less ex pensive to install than sound proofed enclosed offices. Although these systems are found in more and more office buildings today, their use is still something people generally keep quiet about. “It’s the whole mind manipulation issue. Sound masking does make you think you’re not hearing as much noise although the noise is still there There’s been a great deal of prejudice against it,” according to one acoustics expert. Never Turned Off People have blamed sound masking for headaches, irritability, malaise, and other psychological problems. Labor Department officials and audiologists say that no studies of its effects on human beings have been made. There is no scientific evidence to prove or disprove a relationship between sounc masking and any of these symp toms. “It will probably not drive anyone bonkers,” says one audiologist. It has been used in government offices with no problems, says a federal official Many people who don’t know they are working in offices with sound masking have assumed they’re hearing the air conditioner, Philbnck observes. Once the sound is turned on, it stays on. It’s when it goes off that you notice it, he says Suddenly the room is noisier ORAM6E GREEK! LTBROWKI LT. BLUE LT, GREEN Would you like to bu a weather forecaster ; Ihen make a weathei cane to check chinqes m the direction of the wind Cut a piece of papu in the shape of a J inch feather (See picture ) Stick the end of the (e> y/ 2-2 7- 0 Kl D 9, CAN VOU ADD JUE MISS/Nfir LErTERS TO SPELL OUT THE NAMES OF THESE TEN PRESIDENTS? PS. THESE ARE LAST NAMES BLOWING IN THE WIND ANSWERS ON PA&E 812 'gy pave: .. paper feather into one end of a soda straw Stick a lonq straight p.n thiouqh the straw as shown and into the rubber eraser of a pencil Don t squash the straw Let it spin on the pm Stand out in an i >pen space and hold the pur up in the air The end of the will point into the
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