Do Speech Privacy–Sound Masking Systems cancel out voices?
The most “common misconception” about this technology is that it cancels or blocks voices. But as the term “Masking” implies, this technology isn’t subtracting or canceling the voice; it’s adding or substituting a low level non-structured background noise that covers or masks over it. If a manager in an enclosed office doesn’t want to be overhear in the corridor outside their office, speakers would be installed in the corridor to raise the background sound level, thereby masking or covering over their voice that travels out into that corridor. On the other hand, if speakers had been installed inside the enclosed office, the manager would no longer hear the voices from the corridor, but those in the corridor could hear the manager as clearly as before.
