The role of sound masking treatment in the value engineering of office designs

In the design and planning of office spaces, sound masking systems are often considered optional because of an owner/occupier requirement due to an understanding that can create a more pleasing and private acoustic environment or are required to provide adequate speech privacy. Installations are rarely considered on the basis of project value engineering or return on investment. In this paper, the authors argue that sound masking systems should in fact be considered as another important cost component of the office design, and evaluated along with ceiling tile, private office wall construction and workstation design for their mutual impact on the project budget, as well as on their contribution to acoustical performance. The authors provide typical project data to demonstrate masking systems typically result in overall project cost savings.