Articles

Call Centers are noisy places. No matter how carefully you position the workstations, or how good your audio and call equipment is there will be office noise to deal with, noise to plan around, and noise to eliminate. Furthermore, there is always the issue of sensitivity in conversation to deal with. If people call into a Call Center and sense background noise and chatter they are more apt to regard the Center as a fly-by-night operation and potential fraud risk. Not only ergonomics but psychology must rule the construction of a good Call Center.

Cell sensitivity is important at any call center that provides any kind of customer service. This needs to be considered by any call center, whether it is independent or part of a larger corporate structure. This also applies to call centers that are parts of government and military organizations. This risk should also be taken into account for corporate meeting areas, contractors that carry security clearances, and anyone else who deals with sensitive information.

Sound, being what it is, can pass through just about any surface -- doors, windows, walls, ducts, you name it. If someone is deadset on overhearing any private conversation, it can usually be done with sophisticated eavesdropping devices, and only very sophisticated methods of masking can preserve 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.

Call Centers will benefit greatly from masking and workers' health will improve, since background noise is such a stressor. For the health of the employees, giving them a workplace environment protected from extraneous noises is vital. For both customers and employees, sound masking is a great help for all Call Centers.