The industry has seen how sound masking solutions can help lower office noise and disruptions, but Cambridge Sound Management has set out to solve another common office space issue—speech privacy.
“Conference rooms are where most confidential meetings take place,” says David Sholkovitz, director of marketing at Cambridge Sound. “With the Qt Conference Room Edition, meeting participants can speak freely knowing that what they say won’t be overheard by unintended listeners outside the room.”
Debuting at booth #1073 at InfoComm 2015, this new edition is designed specifically for conference rooms and board rooms. Normally sound masking lowers the noise level for better office concentration, but it can also lower volume level of entire rooms, even large ones, to protect conversations that occur in that space.
“Today’s conference and boardrooms have evolved—glass, modular walls—and huddle room designs have improved aesthetics but often don’t prevent speech from being overheard in the surrounding open office space,” says Sholkovitz.
The system is made up of a control module, two lighted privacy signs and a series of direct-field sound masking emitters. When users turn the control module inside of the conference room on, it powers the sound masking emitters placed in the ceiling just outside of the room. The emitters add low level background noise making human speech less audible.
“The easy-to-use control module and lighted privacy signs make it easy for conference room occupants to experience the power of sound masking to protect speech privacy,” says Sholkovitz.
The system has a simple on/off button, and lighted privacy signs in and outside the room indicate when the system is running. Users can also ramp up or down the system for increased protection.
This possibility is “often overlooked” when conference rooms are designed and built, says Sholkovitz, but “fifty-three percent of support staff workers have overheard confidential conversations at work.”
Because of this, the system is designed to easily retrofit into existing rooms with straightforward, low-impact installation, according to the company. It boats a minimalist design and easy integration into AMX or Crestron control systems. It is also energy efficient, consuming less than seven watts of power.
If the area is larger than 40 feet by 40 feet, users can add multiple emitters for complete coverage. See the system at booth #1073 at InfoComm.
