The effect of reverberation time on sound masking method to improve speech privacy in open-plan offices

Abstract

Abstract Lack of speech privacy is a significant problem in open-plan offices. Sound masking, which essentially covers the target speech with the competing speech simultaneously (masker), can increase speech privacy. However, a conversation takes place in a reverberant room at which will reduce speech intelligibility. This study observed the effectiveness of reverberation time on the sound masking to the target. In this early study, three conditions of stimuli were used, namely clean, 0.3 s and 0.6 s reverberation time added to both target and masker, respectively. The STI and subjective measure were used with twenty-five volunteers. As expected, the results suggest that the longer the reverberation time, the lower the effectiveness of the masker strength. The STI agrees with the subjective measure.