What is Speech Privacy?
Speech Privacy can be defined as the inability of an outside listener to understand a conversation between two or more separate individuals. Effective speech privacy is an essential aspect of any office as it allows employees to:
- Conduct confidential conversations without being overheard
- Ignore distracting conversations
- Understand in-person and phone conversations more clearly
Measuring Speech Privacy
Speech privacy operates on a scale of 0% – 100%, where 0% means perfect privacy (no communication) and 100% means perfect communication (no privacy). Most offices aim to achieve a speech privacy level of 5%. At this level, most speech will be unintelligible to an outside listener, though some words may be understood.
Office Speech Privacy
Speech privacy is mainly a concern in office spaces where walls between offices do not go to deck, and where there are large areas of open office space. When walls between offices do not go to deck, there is a lack of speech privacy because sound will flank up and over the ACT grid into the adjacent office or corridor. This is a problem especially if sensitive is being shared in these private offices, and it’s also just distracting to always overhear other conversation when trying to work.
In open office areas, speech privacy is almost non-existent, and the main problem is distractions from overhearing background conversations, especially if the job involves making a lot of phone calls. Adding cubicles in open office areas can be slightly helpful, but without being in a fully enclosed office with walls that go to deck, workers would still lack speech privacy and be able to overheat background conversations.
If taking walls to deck and furnishing an open office area with cubicles is not an option, consider adding a Commercial White Noise System throughout the office space.
Achieving Speech Privacy
In order to achieve the desired level of speech privacy, there must be a careful balance between the noise created by the speaker and the ambient noise in the room.
When the speaker’s voice is louder than the ambient noise in the room, the speech becomes non-private, rendering it intelligible to all those within earshot.
When the speaker’s voice is much lower than the ambient noise, the intended listener will be unable to understand the speaker.
When the speaker’s voice and the ambient noise are equal, speech privacy will be at its most ideal level.
Direct Speech Paths vs. Reflective Speech Paths
Open office plans allow for direct speech intrusion paths, meaning speech will travel directly from the speaker to the listener. These paths may be blocked with the introduction of screens. Screens can be anything that blocks the sound’s path including acoustical products, furniture and cubicle walls.
Enclosed plans allow for speech intrusion through shared walls and doors, flanking, and sound leaks (cracks) in the building’s structure. These paths may be closed by sealing sound leaks, installing carpeting and softer furnishings, and installing acoustic panels to walls and ceilings.
If you have concerns about speech privacy in a current building project, contact Commercial Acoustics or leave a comment below!
