Issue link: https://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/1255991
62 I ICT TODAY AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY: Denise Pappas is the executive director, Technical Standards, for Valcom. She is also part of the leadership teams for both Valcom and newly-acquired Keltron. She is an NFPA member and serves on several technical commit- tees. She has worked on several standards committees within BICSI, including the Intelligent Building Standard, and as Vice Chair on the Wireless Standards Committee. She has authored articles for NFPA and BICSI and has been a featured speaker for both organizations, as well as many others. Currently, Denise serves as Vice Chair of the BICSI Standards Committee and is a member of Women in BICSI. She can be reached at dpappas@valcom.com. REFERENCES: 1. Ketchum, Kelsy. "Hospital noise is top complaint for just about everyone: What to do," Healthcare Business & Technology, 15 December 2017. 2. Sparacino, Diane. "Dangerous Decibels: Hospital Noise More Than a Nuisance," AMN Healthcare, Inc., RN.com. 2015. 3. "A General Guide for Deriving Abundance Estimates from Hydroacoustic Data," Acoustics Unpacked, http://www.acous- ticsunpacked.org/AcousticBackground/Signal-to-noiseRatio.html. 4. "Summary of the HIPPA Privacy Rule," Office for Civil Rights, United States Department of Health & Human Services, May 2003. 5. "Does the HIPAA Privacy Rule require hospitals and doctors' offices to be retrofitted, to provide private rooms, and soundproof walls to avoid any possibility that a conversation is overheard?", Office for Civil Rights (OCR), United States Department of Health & Human Services, 26 July 2013. One of the biggest myths of a sound masking system is that a combination paging system and sound masking system can be used. Spot sound masking is fine when using spot sound masking speakers outside of an office doorway or over a receptionist desk. Using spot sound masking speakers over a wide area is not a good solution as each speaker would have to be "balanced" so as not to interrupt the cohesive sound coverage. Some designers and installers try to shortcut efforts by using the overhead speakers as spot sound masking speakers in conjunction with the paging function. While the idea of using the speakers in the paging system may seem like an economical solution, it defeats the purpose of the sound masking. Every time there is a page, the sound masking speakers carry that sound instead of their noise canceling sound. The disruption in this background sound makes it impossible to get the full benefit of the sound masking system, which if designed properly is on all the time. Sound masking speakers and paging speakers should be a separate but parallel system. SUMMARY While there will always be noise in hospitals and healthcare systems, designers can reduce the noise pollution with a properly designed paging system supple- mented with a properly designed sound masking system. Together, these two systems will ensure that those that need to hear and understand a message will receive it. Meanwhile, those conversations that need to remain private, do exactly that—stay private!