Natural sounds can boost productivity in office

Washington: Playing natural sounds such as flowing water in offices could lift workers' moods and enhance productivity, a new study says. An increasing number of modern open-plan offices employ sound masking systems that raise the background sound of a room so that speech is rendered unintelligible beyond a certain distance and distractions are less annoying.

The sound masking system also improves cognitive abilities in addition to providing speech privacy. The natural sound used in the experiment was designed to mimic the sound of flowing water in a mountain stream. Sound masking systems are custom designed for each office space by consultants and are typically installed as speaker arrays discretely tucked away in the ceiling.