Sound masking system

A direct field sound making system for providing a direct path sound masking signal to the ears of a listener in a predetermined area of a building, said predetermined area including a ceiling and a floor, said system comprising:

• a sound masking signal generator comprising a plurality of stored sets of information and operative to provide two or more signal channels of mutually incoherent electrical sound masking signals;
• and
• a plurality of loudspeaker assemblies, each loudspeaker assembly comprising an input coupled to said masking signal generator to receive the electrical sound masking signal from one channel of said generator,
• wherein each of the plurality of loudspeaker assemblies is operative to emit an acoustic sound masking signal corresponding to said electrical sound masking signal, wherein each of the loudspeaker assemblies has a low directivity index, and wherein each of the plurality of loudspeaker assemblies is constructed and oriented to provide the acoustic sound masking signal in a direct path to the ears of said listener said predetermined area;
• and
• wherein the acoustic sound masking signal has a corresponding sound masking spectrum, said sound masking spectrum having a roll off of between 2 and 4dB between 800–1600HZ, a roll off of between 3 and 6dB between 1600–3200 Hz, and a roll off of between 4 and 7dB between 3200–6000 Hz.

A direct field sound masking system for providing a direct path sound masking signal to the ears of a listener in a predetermined area of a building, said predetermined area including a ceiling and a floor, said system comprising:

• a sound masking signal generator operative to provide one or more channels of mutually incoherent electrical sound masking signals, the sound masking signal generator including a plurality of stored sets of information for providing from a recipient loudspeaker assembly an acoustic sound masking signal having a selected sound masking spectrum, wherein one of the stored plurality of sets of information is selected and used to provide the one or more electrical sound masking signals;
• a plurality of loudspeaker assemblies, wherein each loudspeaker assembly comprises an input coupled to said masking signal generator to receive the electrical sound masking signal from one channel of said generator;
• wherein each of the plurality of loudspeaker assemblies is operative to emit an acoustic sound masking signal corresponding to said electrical sound masking signal;
• wherein the acoustic sound masking signal has a sound masking spectrum corresponding to the selected stored set of information;
• wherein each of the loudspeaker assemblies has a low directivity index;
• and wherein each of the plurality of loudspeaker assemblies is constructed and oriented to provide the acoustic sound masking signal in a direct path to the ears of said listener in said predetermined area;
• and
• a remote control unit remotely coupled to said masking signal generator and operative to signal said masking signal generator to adjust at least one frequency component of the selected sound masking spectrum.