Sound Masking for Counseling Centers
COUNSELING CENTERS AND THE PROBLEM OF CONFIDENTIALITY
Many different groups offer counseling services, from churches and private practice clinics to government-run facilities such as VA hospitals. The reasons for counseling are as diverse as the people receiving it:
- Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD)
- Rape Counseling
- Crisis Pregnancy Counseling
- Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings
- Grief Counseling
- Marital Counseling
- Suicide Prevention
- Psychologist’s offices
- Post-Partum Depression
- Anger Management
The common denominator among the people being counseled is a desire for confidential privacy. In terms of counseling, when someone shares a problem with a group, that individual expects that the problem stays within the group. Even when the group breaks up into smaller groups, each person expects that what they share stays with the smaller group and doesn’t leak out to the larger group even. When someone consistently receives counseling one-on-one, that individual certainly expects that what (s)he says stays within the confines of those walls. Unfortunately, even if the counselor honors the wish for confidentiality, the human voice travels. Conversations travel across rooms, under doors, and through walls, leaving the counseled exposed and humiliated.
SOUND MASKING FOR CONFIDENTIALITY IN COUNSELING CENTERS
A simple solution is available. Whether the counseling takes place in a small room or an area as big as a school gymnasium, sound masking offers coverage for the required confidentiality. Speakers are installed directly within the ceiling tiles and emit a soft, low-level background hum that effectively masks other noises in the treated area.