Networked sound masking system with centralized sound masking generation

摘要

A sound masking system for shaping the ambient noise level in a physical environment. The sound masking system comprises a networked and distributed system having a number of master units coupled together and to a control unit. One or more of the master units may include satellite sound masking units which function to reproduce an audio signal generated by a central sound masking module. The audio signal comprises a sound masking signal, a paging signal or a sound masking signal mixed with a paging signal. The sound masking signal is generated by the central sound masking module or a selected from a number of sound masking signal inputs at the control unit. Each of the master units is addressable over the network by the control unit enabling the control unit to control the contour, spectral band, and gain characteristics of the audio output signal. The system may also include a remote control unit which provides the capability to tune and adjust each master sound masking unit in situ without requiring physical access through the ceiling installation.

主权项

1. A networked sound masking system, comprising:
a sound masking communication network; a plurality of sound masking units, each sound masking unit connected to the sound masking communication network, each sound masking unit configured to selectively output a signal from at least one of a plurality of output signal channels carried over the sound masking communication network based on a control signal carried over a control signal channel of the sound masking communication network; and a control unit located remotely from said sound masking units, said control unit configured to communicate with said sound masking units via said sound masking communication network, and said control unit configured to selectively output at least one sound masking signal on the plurality of output signal channels of the sound masking communication network, and the control unit configured to generate the control signal and output the control signal on the control signal channel of the sound masking communication network; at least some of the sound masking units being responsive to a masking signal volume command, and at least some of the sound masking units being responsive to a masking signal spectrum command; the control unit being configured to generate the masking signal volume command for controlling a volume characteristic of the sound masking signal; and the control unit being configured to generate the masking signal spectrum command for controlling a frequency characteristic of the sound masking signal.