Hear that?
Listen hard.
Yes, that’s your brain working!
Whether it’s reading, messaging or participating in a virtual meeting, today’s modern hybrid working model constantly places us in situations which challenge our ability to fully focus.
Many of us spend long periods on voice and video calls: distractions, the quality of our hardware, and sometimes simply the sheer workload all conspiring to tax our brains to the fullest.
There are many things we can do to mitigate against that, of course.
We can seek out quiet areas in which to work, we can turn up our device volumes to drown out background noise, and we can even just participate in less meetings.
However, a recent scientific study has shown that there is a much better way of maximising our performance.
And, brilliantly, technology is once again playing a major role.
EPOS – the world’s leading audio and video solutions provider – has found that its smart ADAPT 660 headsets boost users’ ability to contribute positively to the virtual workplace whilst simultaneously reducing the stress and strain of a busy day.
Its psychoacoustic research, conducted by the prestigious Centre for Applied Audiology Research in Denmark and now being shared at scientific conferences around the world, found the headsets reduce listening effort by 35% and improve memory recall by 10%.
And that means users’ brains work less but deliver more.
“Hybrid working has transformed the workplace and the ways in which we communicate and collaborate,” says EPOS’ Joe Debold, Vice President, Sales.
“In a typical hybrid workday, people must adapt to constantly changing sound environments—from sitting in a noisy office to remotely dialling into a virtual meeting. But our brains aren’t built to process artificial sound coming out of headsets and speakerphones.
“We know that we hear with our ears, but we listen with our brains. Sounds that cannot be recognized are perceived as noise and noise stresses your brain, causing it to become tired and unfocused.
“The passive noise damping technology present in the ADAPT 660 headset solves all of that.”
During the study, a group of 19 people participated in two globally-recognised tests to measure speech intelligibility in noise, listening effort and speech retention.
In both tests, participants in noisy environments listened and responded to auditory stimuli played through a pair of EPOS headphones.
Expert analysis of the results concluded that the headsets’ passive noise reduction performance leads to a reduction in effort listening, better memory recall and higher levels of word recognition.
The same type of in-depth scientific research has been a key element in the development of audio solutions built on EPOS BrainAdapt
technology, which support the brain’s natural way of processing sound.
“For today’s workforce, who spend hours in hybrid meetings where sound comes from both speakers and people, poor voice transmission increases listening effort and the mental load people experience during a workday,” says Debold.
“This means unnecessary fatigue as people need to use greater cognitive effort to try and recognize sounds, fill in gaps and guess what was said. At the end of a workday this additional effort adds up, impacting people’s ability to perform their best.
“The EPOS ADAPT 660 headset enables professionals working in noisy or unnatural sound environments to stay present and focus longer in hybrid meetings, reduces stress on their brain, and enables them to better recall important information.
“We believe it demonstrates that professional audio tools that are designed for the hybrid worker are a necessity.”
In the new-world workplace – in which participation in virtual meetings of all kinds and in all sorts of locations is now ubiquitous – there is no question that hardware is as important as the software via which it is deployed.
Enterprise always demands a healthy return on any investment, and rightly so.
Equipping workforces with basic tools whilst expecting advanced performance is, it seems, the epitome of false economy.
To learn more about how EPOS can help your and your customers’ business succeed and grow, visit the EPOS website.
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