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,
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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
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