Speech privacy in buildings
Simply put, speech privacy is the inability of an unintentional listener to understand another person’s conversation. So, people with a lack of speech privacy are overhearing lots of conversations that they shouldn’t be, which can be annoying to employees.
When we look at acoustic-related complaints of office workers, we find that most complaints centre around the idea that others can hear their conversations, or that we can hear others’ conversations (a lack of speech privacy). Rarely is the problem that there is simply too much noise in the environment.
As an example, many people have no problem working in a coffee shop or other public place, but once they are in an office, the expectation of speech privacy is very different, and indeed the reality of speech privacy is very different. In the office, we are able to understand every word that our neighbors are saying, whilst in the coffee shop it does not seem to matter.
So when we define speech privacy, there must be an element of intelligibility. It is not practical to eliminate all conversational sounds in a workplace, but it is certainly not impossible to significantly reduce intelligible speech throughout a workplace.
53% of employees report having overheard confidential company information at the office. This lack of speech privacy can result in compliance and legal concerns when workers are discussing private customer information such as finance or healthcare records.
Lack of speech privacy is the number one complaint among office workers. The Center for the Build Environment in San Francisco surveyed more than 25,000 workers in more than 2,000 buildings to determine what the key environmental issues were for workers. Their results mirrored those found over the last 20 years in similar surveys – specifically that of the architect designed features surveyed, acoustics (including the lack of of speech privacy) was considered to be the most objectionable.
Sound masking can help companies protect confidential customer, company, and employee information.
[edit] Find out more
[edit] Related articles on Designing Buildings Wiki
- 2015 Government response to media reports about noise complaints
- Airborne noise
- Approved Document E.
- Ash deafening.
- Audio frequency.
- Building acoustics.
- Building Bulletin 93: acoustic design of schools.
- Control of Noise at Work Regulations 2005.
- Decibel.
- Flanking noise.
- Flanking sound.
- Impact noise
- New noise guidance
- Noise nuisance.
- Noise pollution.
- Noise v sound.
- Privacy.
- Reverberation time.
- Sound absorption.
- Sound absorption coefficient.
- Sound frequency.
- Sound insulation.
- Sound masking.
- Sound v noise
- Structure-borne sound.
Featured articles and news
Stress Awareness Day and legal duties for employers
Calling employers to follow the five Rs this week.
Key points and relevance to construction of meeting, due to reconvene.
Cladding remediation programmes, transparency and target date.
National Audit Office issue report on cladding remediation.
HBPT and BEAMS Jubilees. Book review.
Does the first Labour budget deliver for the built environment?
What does the UK Budget mean for electrical contractors?
Mixed response as business pays, are there silver linings?
A brownfield housing boost for Liverpool
A 56 million investment from Homes England now approved.
Fostering a future-ready workforce through collaboration
Collaborative Futures: Competence, Capability and Capacity, published and available for download.
Considerate Constructors Scheme acquires Building A Safer Future
Acquisition defines a new era for safety in construction.
AT Awards evening 2024; the winners and finalists
Recognising professionals with outstanding achievements.
Reactions to the Autumn Budget announcement
And key elements of the quoted budget to rebuild Britain.
Chancellor of the Exchequer delivers Budget
Repairing, fixing, rebuilding, protecting and strengthening.
Connecting conservation research and practice with IHBC
State of the art heritage research & practice and guidance.
Innovative Silica Safety Toolkit
Receives funding boost in memory of construction visionary.
Gentle density and the current context of planning changes
How should designers deliver it now as it appears in NPPF.
Sustainable Futures. Redefining Retrofit for Net Zero Living
More speakers confirmed for BSRIA Briefing 2024.