By Luca Masella, M.S.

To provide sound comfort, noise control in building design is made up of three main components.

Absorb, which is a crucial component for achieving passive noise cancellation (PNC). It is vital to improve the quality of communication inside a room.

Blocking the sound from one room to another is necessary, which is routinely incorporated into building design by integrating sound blocking qualities.

Covering is key since micro environments within the same room cannot be created without using sound masking technology.

Any frequency human ears can detect is played in a random sequence at the very same intensity to generate white noise. White noise is composed of all audible frequencies, just as white light is made up of all visible wavelengths on the color spectrum. The term "black noise" is consistent with the sound of silence. Recognizable white noises surround people on a regular basis. These include the whirring of a fan, radio or TV static, or the hissing of a radiator.

The issue with white noise is that having the same amplitude at all the frequencies could be irritating for people that are more sensitive to high frequencies noises.

Pink Noise

Pink noise differs from white noise, despite the fact that they are frequently compared and utilized for the same purposes. Every time the frequency doubles, the amplitude of pink noise reduces by half. As a result, there is a mix of louder low-frequency tones and smoother high-frequency tones. Because the human ear is more susceptible to high frequencies, many people prefer pink noise to white noise. Pink noise is present in natural surroundings such as the wind, steady rain and rustling leaves.

According to research published in the Journal of Theoretical Biology, a constant pink noise has a significant influence on decreasing brain wave complexity and fostering a more consistent sleep period, therefore enhancing sleep quality.

Brown Noise

Brown noise is a deeper variation of pink noise, with stronger bass tones and concentrated low-frequency energy. When compared to white noise, it sounds muffled yet powerful, like crashing waves during a storm or the rumbling of a brass instrument humming a low note.

White Noise vs Sound Masking

A common misconception is that white noise and sound masking techniques are the same thing. Unlike white noise, sound masking only reproduces the noise from the frequencies that are within the human voice. Sound masking is designed to perfectly match the voice of a human being in a way to sound pleasant and comfortable. This technique fades in the background noise of the room which helps masks human speech. To accomplish this with white noise it would be at a volume and frequency that would pretty irritating for humans.

The entire purpose of sound masking is that people are easily distracted by significant noises, so if someone is talking next to someone, they are prone to try to focus on what that person is trying to communicate — even though they are not the target of the conversation.

On the other hand, if someone speaks to one in another language, a lack of focus on the conversation would result.

Following these principles, the sound masking approach makes what is more significant to us, such as human speech, less intelligible.

White noise can be localized. This means one can pinpoint the source of the noise. Human ears can detect a white noise machine and it becomes a distraction. Because sound is found everywhere, using a sound masking device creates a more immersive experience. Sound masking should fade into the background once the system has been properly calibrated and implemented.

Different Type of Sounds

According to soundscape designers at The Listening Centre in Toronto, noise alone can reduce productivity by up to 65 percent in open-plan offices. People have enough computational power to hold 1.6 human conversations at once, which means one cannot understand two individuals conversing at the same time. If a person in the office is talking behind someone, they are consuming half of that person’s mental capacity.

Exposure to the sounds of wind, water, and birdsong has been linked to a reduction in stress, according to research, including many studies conducted at the University of Surrey.

Birdsong is frequently used because it provides a sense of security to most individuals. Over hundreds of thousands of years, it has been established that whenever the birds are cheerfully tweeting, everything is usually safe.