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Article Type:: Analysis

Sound masking hits UK

Article Date: Apr 19 2006 Oliver Haill

If the incessant and teeth-jarring din of your more stentorian employees finds you chronically annoyed, or if productivity is flagging among your easily distracted young sales force, a panacea is on the way from the good ol’ US of A.

Based on the concept that small crowds do not distract us but single voices do, a desktop Babble unit apparently will ‘provide voice privacy without walls’, making people’s voices sound to their neighbours like a background hum. ‘In essence, Babble turns you into a small crowd and changes how other people hear your voice,’ drones Bill DeKruif, president of Sonare Technologies, the company behind the product. ‘The result is that those outside the workspace cannot understand the actual spoken words.’

By reproducing the tone and volume of a voice, Babble broadcasts small, separated portions of speech out of desktop speakers to distract others from loud conversations. Although only available in the US, it will be over here by the middle of this year and sounds ideal for open-plan offices and for departments that discuss confidential information.

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