AUTO-CONTROLLED WHITE NOISE SYSTEM

SYSTEME A BRUIT BLANC AUTO-COMMANDE

English Abstract

Reduction in well being with subsequent erosion in productivity of
information workers located in open plan offices is an increasing
concern to office managers responsible for the effectiveness of
their staff. To this end therefore, this invention has shifted the
focus away from the traditional approach of concentrating on the
technological specifications of white noise systems and instead
focused on the more important issue of psychologically improving
the well being of the user of this particular system.
The invention places the greatest emphasis on being aesthetically
pleasing to the user, easy to use and deliberately tailored to be
integrated into study programs for the evalaution of people's
responses to the use of white noise as an effective sound masking
agent against peripheral irritating noise, from co-workers
conversations and general office-derived 'noise'.
The invention lays claim also to be able to electronically monitor
the ambient background noise and to use this signal to
automatically adjust the volume of the white noise stimulator
thereby eliminating the need for the user to continually make
manual adjustments as the background noise dynamically changes.

The aesthetic design of the total system is adaptable to suit the
application in question and there are no drawings therefore as
would normally accompany such an application. Similarly, the
electronic design is infinitely variable to meet the application
and therefore is also not submitted. The claim lies in the
improvement to existing process by the deployment of an application
specific customized system.

Claims

"The embodiment of the invention in which an exclusive property or
privilege is claimed is defined as follows:"

1. An intelligent acoustic white noise sound masking system for
obtaining improved levels of productivity through improved well
being in an open plan office space by automatically adjusting the
amplitude level of said white noise system to optimally match the
measured ambient dynamically changing noise environment to a pre-
determined optimized ratio of white noise to ambient noise and
through intelligent logic processing circuitry provide a slowly
changing amplitude in white noise level such that the user is by
and large not aware of said changes in audio levels, which if too
abrupt in manner would detract from the psychological benefits of
the said system performance capability.

Description

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Specifications


1. General character of the kind of process to which the~invention
relates.
This invention relates to a white noise stimulator system for
improvement of the psychological well beinq of information and
knowledge workers, aesthetically pleasing to the user and
configured to be suitable for study projects, with automatic
control of the volume output, linked to the ambient noise
environment.


2. Nature of articles previously known/used to be improved by
resort to the invention and of the difficuFties which they involve.
It is common in other white nolse generator systems for the
emphasis to be placed on the technical specifications with lesser
regard on the psychological effectiveness to the user. These
systems typlcally are integrated into the ceiling structure of the
offices and are dif~lcult to adiust once installed. Systems in
existence that are portabie units, fall typically into two
categories.
Either, they are designed for the consumer market in which case
they are are not optimized for use in office environments
especially where study projects are also carried out or the
aesthetic look of the units leave much to be desired. The sound
output also in these systems can only be manually controlled by the
user. These systems to date have a number of collective defiencies
that make them less than suitable for deployment as portable work
white noise systems for enhancing the well being of information and
knowledge workers.


3. Inventive idea of new article and the way in which difficulties
of previous practices overcome.
I have found that these deficiencies can be overcome by inventing
a unit that is specifically optimized for the task in hand. This
unit has the sound quality optimized by deploying a generous sized
high quality speaker unit, designed to be aesthetically pleasing
and integrating well into the existing office environment of today.
Controls for volume and frequency are stepped to allow loging of
optimum setting for study projects.

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These settings are also available at the rear of the unit for
interfacing with a computer to automatically collect data on how
the settings are changed according to user preferences during the
working day.
The sound output also is automatically controlled by a-feedback
signal that is related to the ambient noise environment in the
office space immediately local to the user. A smoothing/hysteris
network ensures that the changes in ambient noise are smoothed out
in order to provide a smooth control of the white noise sound
output. Sound output levels are kept low to minimize nuisance to
adjacent workers.


4. Best way of usin~putting into operation the inventive idea.
The invention would be placed in close proximity to the user i.e.
a wor~er in the informaticn and knowledge work field! typically
several feet away, and the volume adjusted to give the most useful
value whilst being as 10W as possible. The frequency control is
also adjusted to give the most pleasing response to the user. The
automatic volume control feature is deployed by placina ~he pickup
microphone some distance away from the unlt, 6 to 8 feet typically
and pointed ln the ~eneral direction of the greatest noise source.
The very easy to use procedure emphasizes the particular attention
paid to inventing a sysiem that will provide the maximum benefit
with the minimum of user required input.