A Call Center is a very noisy place. Regardless of how you position the workstations or how nice the call and audio equipment is, there's always going to be some office noise to contend with, noise to plan around, and noise to be eliminated. Moreover, there's always a sensitivity issue in conversation to contend with. If folks call a Call Center and sense chatter and background noise, they're likely to see the Center as a fly-by-night operation with a potential risk of fraud. Not only the ergonomics but also the psychology must govern construction of good Call Centers.

If your Call Center deals with any kind of customer service, you will be open to issues of call sensitivity. Offices everywhere that have customer service arms have to take this into consideration, whether the Call Center is off the campus of the company or in-house. This is also the case for military and government operations, corporate meeting areas in private corporations, or for contractors with clearances. Anywhere you deal with personal information you are open to risk.

Sound travels and can be heard through almost any type of surface doors, windows and walls. Additionally, sophisticated eavesdropping devices can also make any private conversation be heard. Only very sophisticated methods can mask these sounds and allow individuals to get privacy.

Normal acoustic treatment methods include creating rooms with high sound attenuation. Attentuation involves diminishing the intensity of sound traveling through a medium, and is accomplished through absorption, scattering or spreading the sound. Most organizations do not have the money available for high-class attenuation, so they look to a second alternative -- sound masking.

Sound masking makes it tougher to identify speech by filling in spaces in the sound spectrum. Sound masking doesn't change the frequency of sound waves, and should not be conflated with sound canceling. Masking covers up sound instead of making it impossible to hear. Masking tends to be the form of acoustic privacy that is the most cost-effective.

The advantage for the Call Center is not only call confidentiality, but lack of equipment intrusiveness. Sound masking, when installed correctly, helps to cut costs for cubicle walls, yet greatly enhances the work setting. Furthermore, it minimizes the chance of a client's eavesdropping on another client's personal information when a representative recites it back.

Masking is a technique that can greatly improve your call center. To start with, it will make your employees happier and healthier, by eliminating stressful background noise. Your employees will be able to relax in a workplace that uses masking, and they'll perform better in the absence of extra noise. To benefit your workers and clients, you'll want to consider sound masking.

Call centers, by definition, are noisy places. After all, everybody is talking! It is important,however, that this office noise not be allowed to define the business to the client. No one wants to think their personal information is at risk. Since sound can pass through almost all mediums, the office managers should consider sound masking. Masking doesn't cancel the sound but fills in the spaces of the spectrum so speech is not identifiable and the result is a white noise. Masking is more cost effective than other methods. The results are more pleasing to both the workers and the clients.