The evidence is very uncertain about the effect of masking sound on work performance in open-plan offices, and the effect depends on the masker type and level.
Wording we use in the app
Claim reviewed: In an open-plan office, a masking sound can change how speech affects work performance and the perceived sound environment; the effect depends on the type and level of the masker.
No clinical support; only laboratory findings, anecdotes or a single small study.
What do we know, what don't we know?
What do we know?
- In a 30-person lab experiment simulating a Chinese-language open-plan office, four maskers (speech-like pink noise, air-conditioning noise, spring water sound, babble) were tested at three signal-to-noise ratios.Zhang et al. 2021
- SupportSerial recall and the perceived sound environment differed markedly by masker type and ratio; the best condition was spring water sound at a medium ratio.Zhang et al. 2021
What don't we know?
- LimitThe evidence rests on a single small lab experiment; results may differ in real offices and other languages.Zhang et al. 2021
- LimitEffects could vary with gender, education level and noise sensitivity.Zhang et al. 2021
- Evidence gapThis app's speech masker was not tested in that experiment.
The findings are the sentences of the claim's two paragraphs; each is tied to the source it describes and to its kind (support, limit, evidence gap, context). We show no counts or percentages: how many studies support a claim is not the strength of the evidence. Reading the lens
Sources (1)
The effects of masking sound and signal-to-noise ratio on work performance in Chinese open-plan offices
In a lab experiment simulating a Chinese-language open-plan office, 30 participants' serial recall and sound-environment perception were measured in 14 conditions: quiet, speech only, and 12 conditions in which four maskers (speech-like pink noise, air-conditioning noise, spring water sound, babble) were presented with speech at three signal-to-noise ratios. Effects differed markedly by masker type and ratio; the best condition was spring water sound at a medium ratio (−2.4 dB). Effects could differ by gender, education level and noise sensitivity.
A single lab experiment with a small sample. Not indexed in PubMed; citation from Crossref, PII S0003682X20307611.
Zhang Y, Ou D, Kang S. The effects of masking sound and signal-to-noise ratio on work performance in Chinese open-plan offices. Appl Acoust. 2021;172:107657. doi:10.1016/j.apacoust.2020.107657 Go to source
Method
- Sources and processing
- Each citation was checked against its Crossref and PubMed record; fields that could not be found were left blank, and no figure or citation was guessed.
- How this page was prepared
- The claim text was drafted by an AI model (Claude); it is awaiting human review and is not used in recommendations. Evidence methodology
- Review
- Last reviewed: 09/10/2026 · Next review: 04/04/2027
- Updates
- Version 2 · 09/10/2026
- Version 1 · 04/10/2026
- Cite as
- Frekans Studio. “The evidence is very uncertain about the effect of masking sound on work performance in open-plan offices, and the effect depends on the masker type and level.”. Evidence library, version 2, last reviewed 09/10/2026. https://frekans.studio/en/evidence/speech-masking-office