Irrelevant speech is the main cause of disturbance in the work environment and has been shown to have a detrimental impact on people’s mood and ability to concentrate and perform cognitive tasks. This presentation is a summary of a PhD research that examined the use of water sounds in open-plan offices as a means of masking irrelevant speech and reducing its negative impact. The presentation briefly explains the basics of speech masking and shows the results of various experiments to evaluate the effectiveness of water sounds in creating a better indoor soundscape where people are more satisfied, and their productivity and privacy are promoted.

Zanyar Abdalrahman is a senior acoustic engineer at Sandy Brown. He has a BSc and an MSc in Architectural Engineering and a PhD in Building Acoustics. His PhD study focused on speech masking in open-plan offices using natural sounds.

If you have any queries about this meeting, please contact Laurent Galbrun (Heriot-Watt University) L.G.U.Galbrun@hw.ac.uk.