Effects of Five Speech Masking Sounds on Performance and Acoustic Satisfaction. Implications for Open-Plan Offices

Haapakangas, Annu; Kankkunen, E.; Hongisto, Valtteri; Virjonen, Petra; Oliva, David; Keskinen, Esko

doi:10.3813/aaa.918444

Cited by 79 publications

(84 citation statements)

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“…In turn, higher STI values are desirable in the context of communication but undesirable in the context of disruption from task-irrelevant background speech. A number of studies have demonstrated that lower STI (or higher privacy) values for task-irrelevant background speech is associated with greater performance (e.g., Ellermeier and Hellbr€ uck, 1998;Haapakangas et al, 2011;Schlittmeier and Hellbr€ uck, 2009). This holds true in visualverbal serial recall (Ellermeier and Hellbr€ uck, 1998;Ebissou et al, 2013;Schlittmeier and Hellbr€ uck, 2009;Haapakangas et al, 2011) as well as in tasks that require processing of meaning and lexical-based retrieval (Haka et al, 2009;Jahncke et al, 2013;Keus van de Poll et al, 2014;Loewen and Suedfeld, 1992;Venetjoki et al, 2006).…”

Section: A Why Sound Disrupts Cognitive Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…In this respect, Haapakangas and co-authors expected enhanced acceptance for less artificial maskers and tested the sound of spring water, instrumental and vocal music as masking sounds (Haapakangas et al, 2011). Superimposing background speech by continuous spring water sound significantly reduced its detrimental impact on serial recall performance.…”

Section: A Why Sound Disrupts Cognitive Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Many companies have introduced masking sound in the working environment to combat the potential negative impact of background speech on such cognitive tasks. Typically, the masking sounds used within the office setting are continuous broadband noises (or so-called aperiodic sounds that have no clear cycle of repetition and thus lack a clear tonal quality) such as pink noise, but they are not generally appreciated by the office workers (Haapakangas et al, 2011;Schlittmeier and Hellbr€ uck, 2009). The purpose of the present study was to explore the effectiveness of alternatives to pink noise as masking sound to identify more appropriate maskers for performance protection against disruption by background speech.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The purpose of the present study was to explore the effectiveness of alternatives to pink noise as masking sound to identify more appropriate maskers for performance protection against disruption by background speech. In experiment 1, the aim was to explore the effects of several alternative maskers, like multiple voices or water waves, in the context of an often-used memory task, namely, verbal serial recall, since this task has been used in other applied studies on the detrimental impact of background speech and the potential of adding masking sound to reduce it (e.g., Haapakangas et al, 2011;Schlittmeier and Hellbr€ uck, 2009). Experiment 2 delineates the potential benefits of the "winner" in experiment 1-multiple-voice masking-in the context of a more applied task.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Unmasking the effects of masking on performance: The potential of multiple-voice masking in the office environment

Poll

Carlsson

Marsh

et al. 2015

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

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Broadband noise is often used as a masking sound to combat the negative consequences of background speech on performance in open-plan offices. As office workers generally dislike broadband noise, it is important to find alternatives that are more appreciated while being at least not less effective. The purpose of experiment 1 was to compare broadband noise with two alternatives—multiple voices and water waves—in the context of a serial short-term memory task. A single voice impaired memory in comparison with silence, but when the single voice was masked with multiple voices, performance was on level with silence. Experiment 2 explored the benefits of multiple-voice masking in more detail (by comparing one voice, three voices, five voices, and seven voices) in the context of word processed writing (arguably a more office-relevant task). Performance (i.e., writing fluency) increased linearly from worst performance in the one-voice condition to best performance in the seven-voice condition. Psychological mechanisms underpinning these effects are discussed.

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Section: A Why Sound Disrupts Cognitive Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: A Why Sound Disrupts Cognitive Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Unmasking the effects of masking on performance: The potential of multiple-voice masking in the office environment

Poll

Carlsson

Marsh

et al. 2015

The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…It is well-known that exposure to background noise might have a negative impact on task performance [18]. In this, speech and other time varying sound are believed to have obligatory access to memory, meaning that they are recorded and processed even when attention is directed elsewhere.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Interference of Speech and Interior Noise of Chinese High-Speed Trains with Task Performance

Wei

Bockstael²,

Coensel³

et al. 2012

Acta Acustica united with Acustica

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High speed trains are promoted all over the world as an alternative to aircraft (or conventional trains) for travel distances from a few hundred to a (few) thousand kilometers. Long travel time broadens the scale of activities potentially affected by train noise and sounds from other passengers. In this experiment, the effect on task performance caused by the combination of train noises and passengers's chatting was investigated. While being exposed to different noise combinations, Chinese as well as Dutch speaking participants were asked to perform a series of calculation and memory tasks as quickly and as accurately as possible. Results mainly show that (i) response time and accuracy are independent variables for both tasks, with the former showing the largest effect caused by background noise;(ii) a model based on saliency and attention can predict a significant part of the influence of combined noise (train and speech) on task performance; and (iii) in retrospect, the majority of participants report the speech sound to have been either equally or more annoying although the addition of speech changed the overall L Aeq by less than 0.1 dB(A).

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Sound Masking in Büroumgebungen

2019

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Zur Verringerung der Störwirkung sind die Bedämpfung und Reduktion störender Sprache erforderlich. Die akustische Gestaltung im Büro kann sowohl die Nutzerzufriedenheit als auch die Arbeitsleistung deutlich beeinflussen [7]. Dieses Ziel kann nur dann erreicht werden, wenn mehrere Aspekte zu einer ganzheitlichen Lösung zusammengeführt werden: 1) die architektonische und organisatorische Gestaltung des Büros, 2) die Berücksichtigung gleichmäßig schallabsorbierender Oberflächen, 3) die Einbringung schirmender Elemente, 4) die Erzeugung eines konstanten Hintergrundgeräuschpegels. Sound Masking, sprich das Einbringen eines definierten Geräusches in eine Bürofläche, kann die Störwirkung durch Hintergrundsprache verringern. Konventionelle Sound Masking-Systeme bestehen meist aus in der Decke eingebauten Lautsprechern in einem Raster von 2 -4 m. Personalisierte Sound Masking Systeme, bei denen Lautsprecher lokal in Arbeitsplatznähe positioniert sind, sind bislang wenig erforscht. Bei solchen Systemen beeinflusst die Positionierung der Lautsprecher die Wirksamkeit. Der Aufsatz beschreibt die Ergebnisse eines Hörversuchs, der in einem Mehrpersonenbüro in laborähnlichen Bedingungen durchgeführt wurde. Die Versuchsteilnehmer bearbeiteten eine Aufgabe zur Messung der Kurzzeitgedächtnisleistung und einen Fragebogen unter zwölf Schallbedingungen. Die kognitive Leistung der Versuchspersonen war niedriger, wenn das Maskierungssignal und die Sprache aus unterschiedlichen horizontalen Richtungen anstatt aus der gleichen Richtung wiedergegeben wurden. Ein ähnlicher Effekt wurde beobachtet, wenn das Maskierungssignal über ein konventionelles System mit Deckenlautsprechern wiedergegeben wurde. Dieser Nachteil trat nicht auf, wenn die Deckenlautsprecher auch zwischen 100 und 200 Hz Schallenergie abgaben. Da die Maskierung mit konventionellen Deckenlautsprechern weder zu niedrigeren Fehlerraten führte noch als weniger lästig bewertet wurde, kann daraus geschlossen werden, dass das personalisierte Sound Masking-System genauso wirksam wie das konventionelle System war. Stichworte Mehrpersonenbüro; Lärm; Hintergrundsprache; Kognitive Leistung; Schallmaskierung Sound Masking in Office Environments Personalized and conventional systems can increase the cognitive performance: Sound masking, which denotes the specific creation of a background sound field, can reduce the disturbance by irrelevant background speech in open-plan offices. Conventional sound masking loudspeakers are usually positioned in the ceiling within a grid spacing of 2-4 meters. Personalized sound masking architectures with close-by sound masking loudspeaker positions are still subject to research. Such systems may depend on spatial masking release, and hence the loudspeaker position may have an impact on the efficiency. This paper reports on a study in an open-plan office with laboratory-like conditions. The subjects performed a serial recall task and completed a questionnaire during twelve different sound conditions. With regard to serial recall performance, a disadvantage...

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Effects of Five Speech Masking Sounds on Performance and Acoustic Satisfaction. Implications for Open-Plan Offices

Cited by 79 publications

References 0 publications

Unmasking the effects of masking on performance: The potential of multiple-voice masking in the office environment

Unmasking the effects of masking on performance: The potential of multiple-voice masking in the office environment

Interference of Speech and Interior Noise of Chinese High-Speed Trains with Task Performance

Sound Masking in Büroumgebungen

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