I think I’m becoming a Grinch about noise. Because it was the well-loved Grinchy-Claus who once worried,
…All the Who girls and boys
Would wake up bright and early. They’d rush for their toys!
And then! Oh, the noise! Oh, the noise! Noise! Noise! Noise!
Normally, I think total quiet is not only artificial, it’s too much to ask. Even in the most womb-like of massage environments, you’re going to get the occasional murmur of footsteps and voices in the hall, or the soft click of doors opening and closing. If the massage is compelling enough, both it and almost ever-present massage music should soften the effects of such normal every day sounds.
But lately, the noise in my studio has been increasingly annoying for both therapists and clients alike. On one side of us, we have a popular teriyaki restaurant. For a while, the merry Spanish music of the kitchen staff was invading us, though a kind request seemed to solve that. Unfortunately, we still have a vacuum cleaner advancing and retreating and slamming our walls everyday at mid-morning, as well as dining room noise in the evening (dishes clicking, babies squealing). On the other side, we have a cosmetics supply store, and their storage room backs up to our treatment rooms. After a kind request, they removed the doorbell that goes DING-dong, DING-dong, DING-dong every time someone enters their shop. On the other hand, they scuffle and stomp, sometimes assemble things with power tools, and occasionally bring in a small barky dog. And to complete the noise inventory, we have our own front desk noise that seeps through to my treatment room and our own breakroom noise which can invade the treatment room directly across the hall if the door isn’t shut completely.
So we definitely have a problem to be solved, but how? The break room is the break room for heaven’s sake. It shouldn’t have to be a tomb, nor really can it be with hot stone carts being wheeled in and out and therapists doing laundry and dishes and discussing treatment techniques. As for the rest of it . . . well, the reason I think I’m becoming a Grinch is that my first thought was to go the nearby grocery stor–which should have honey and most everything else needed but ants–and go find the contractor who put the studio together. I know, I know, I’m such a nice, sweet girl. In any case, not only would that not be kind, it wouldn’t be immediately helpful and because I doubt my boss is going to want to spend the money to break down and sound proof the walls, what do we do?
One therapist who deals with the teriyaki vacuum in her room, suggested white noise machines. She said she once worked with a talk therapist who used one to keep people outside the room from eavesdropping, whether intentionally or otherwise. So I did some researching on such machine and a lot of listening to shockingly wide variety of “white noise” sounds. Some of these sounds, I wouldn’t call “white noise” just “background noise” such as rain, thunder, birds chirping, etc. Those sounds won’t help. They’ll just combine with the music, sometimes in odd ways. Then there are interesting sounds like one might use for sleeping infants such as “heartbeat.” The sound of a heartbeat isn’t horrible, but I think some clients might find the peculiar pulsing creepy. After all, Edgar Allan Poe isn’t running the studio (thank goodness). The only sounds that I think might be helpful are “true” white noise, which from what I tell, sounds like different types of air rushing through fans. A fan sound without the chill breeze might combine with the music to almost eliminate our sound problem, though that’s only a theory. If anyone out there has used white noise to combat annoying noise in a massage practice (or has any other opinion on the problem) please let me know. Fire ants simply aren’t as available here as they were in Louisiana 
Ahh…noise. I don’t have any brilliant solutions, just noise problems of my own. One solution I’m in the process of implementing is installing small speakers in at least 3 corners of the room, at different heights. I also run a fan and angle it so that it’s not hitting the client and making him or her cold. Sometimes I’ve thought of hanging fabric or curtains along the walls to slow down and decrease sound waves. My hesitation is that I don’t want my professional work space to suddenly look like a swarmy massage parlor. Fabric does soften hard surfaces that cause sound to bounce around. You could even apply egg-crate type cardboard to the walls, then cover them with tasteful fabric. All solutions that an owner might consider, but probably more costly than an employee or renter would undertake unless the noise was really bad all the time.
I did see a website that featured things that looked like big cloth-covered blackboards. I thought something like that might work in the breakroom at least, but it wouldn’t go behind our drawers, so rooms 2 and 3 could stick here drawers clicking/smacking. I understand about the “smarmy massage parlor,” lol.
White noise is definitely not the answer, in my opinion; moving is!