Plantronics launches Habitat Soundscaping to reduce distractions at work

Working in the office can sometimes be a challenge. Colleagues who talk to each other, have a good time and general distractions. So for some people it can be difficult to work in a concentrated way. Plantronics is therefore now coming up with Habitat Soundscaping, a solution with which it hopes to help people who suffer from this at times.

Habitat Soundscaping uses sounds and visual effects and intelligent software to transform open office spaces into environments where people can truly concentrate and work together effectively. The site UC Today spoke with marketing head Richard Kenny of Plantronics about further plans that the company has with Habitat Soundscaping.

Natural elements

The idea behind Habitat Soundscaping is to apply biophilia. That’s the idea of bringing natural elements into the office. According to Kenny, most people want to be outside, preferably in an environment with water. This makes people happier, but is something that can hardly be applied properly in an average office environment.

Habitat Soundscaping responds to this. The sound of running water, for example, can help to mask distracting or disturbing conversations that colleagues have in the office. Most people expect them to function best in a quiet environment, but when they hear water, productivity increases by six percent, says Kenny.

The result, according to scientific research, at least according to Plantronics, is a significant improvement in the field of memory, descriptive writing and the use of rare words. This can be very helpful in an office environment: on average, in a company with five hundred people, 53 percent get distracted at least once a day. On average, it takes a distracted person 23 minutes to focus again. Combined, this results in a loss of 1.2 million dollars for the entire year. According to Plantronics, hearing water can therefore help to reduce the losses caused by distractions.