Parsound Partners with Endel for Workplace Smart Soundscape
Orlando, Fla. (January 28, 2019) – As companies look for new ways to enable their workforce to be more productive, Orlando-based Parsound has developed a new way of relaxing workers and solving sound privacy concerns.
Parsound’s solution: Smart Soundscapes. Their Smart Soundscape system has been noticed by Berlin-based Endel, a company recently funded by the Amazon Alexa Fund, among others. The two companies have partnered exclusively to create sound environments for the workplace to help people focus.
“As a young company looking to fix a problem faced by offices throughout the world, it’s a significant development to partner with a company like Endel,” says Pierce Mooney, President of Parsound. “Often, designers focus on the aesthetics of a working space and forget there are more senses than just sight, but we know the ears are just as important as the eyes.”
Parsound goes beyond acoustical consulting in developing the sound environment for a space. The company refines a 3-D model of the space and utilizes modeling and simulation to determine the best sound absorption and blocking materials, placements for speakers, and other accoutrements for the hearing experience. Their dedicated electroacoustical engineers help building designers and business owners optimize the acoustics of their built environment for its occupants and their daily activities.
One of the keys for Parsound’s system is ensuring conversations in the office, for instance telephone calls, are kept private and do not disturb other workers.
“The Harvard Business Review reports that sound privacy is now the number-one cause of dissatisfaction in open offices, by a factor of 200 percent,” Pierce says. “We fix that.”
The partnership with Endel gives them exclusive access to a technology that creates algorithm-powered and adaptive sound environments helping people focus and relax. The sound adapts to different inputs – like time of day, weather, heart rate and location – boosting productivity and cognitive abilities.
Endel is currently available as an iOS app, and its sound engine is also designed to be integrated into various technologies and public infrastructures, such as airports or hotels, as well as office and co-working spaces.
“Our sounds will soon be available with nearly any personal device, but we know there are many opportunities in the public space realm,” says Oleg Stavitsky, CEO, Endel. “Parsound has the ability to transform the personal experience we provide and optimize it for open offices and medical facilities.”
While Parsound has engineered the sound environment for a variety of clients, from contact centers to concert venues, the first launch of the partnership with Endel came at the Orlando headquarters of UniKey Technologies.
UniKey has a large, open office space with approximately 8,000 square feet of space. Like most open offices, sound propagates across their space into adjacent offices and between walls, distracting workers.
Parsound’s solution included advanced sound masking technology, natural soundscaping with a waterfall and soundproofing systems which provide their office with peace, privacy and productivity, all paired with Endel. By automatically appropriating itself to its immediate environment, with controlled centered in a phone or PC, the system becomes a Smart Soundscape.
“Since UniKey’s inception, we’ve strived to provide our employees with a great working environment that fosters collaboration and invention,” says Phil Dumas, UniKey Founder and CEO. “By adding Parsound’s Smart Soundscape, we’re able to truly enhance our employees’ working experience. As a company focused on emerging tech, we are very pleased to be the first in the country to be able to experience Parsound’s systems and Endel’s sounds.”
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For more information media should contact –
Pierce Mooney, Parsound, 850-339-4898, pierce@parsound.com
Carol Ann Dykes Logue, UCF Business Incubation Program, 407-207-7426, carolann.dykeslogue@ucf.edu
Alan Byrd, Alan Byrd & Associates, 407-415-8470, Alan@ByrdConnections.com
About Parsound: Parsound provides soundscape and noise control for open offices, medical facilities, and mixed-use/housing developments. Founded by engineers who were fed up with noisy environments, Parsound specializes in making sound environments for people who need more Peace, Privacy, and Productivity. Owners and Design-Build teams hire Parsound to limit excessive noise in their building, and to engineer sound masking and life safety systems. Parsound has engineered soundscapes for dozens of buildings across the world including technology and medical offices, public schools and universities, churches, and popular tourist attractions and destinations. Their full suite of solutions addresses speech privacy five times more effectively, per square foot, than traditional sound masking solutions. Most recently, they have filed a provisional patent for Sonoflage, a Smart Soundscape product which provides camouflage for sound. To learn more or make an inquiry, please visit www.Parsound.com.
About Endel: Endel is a cross-platform audio ecosystem. It creates personalized, algorithm-powered, adaptive sound environments that help people focus and relax. The sound adapts to different inputs – like time of day, weather, heart rate, and location, boosting productivity and cognitive abilities. Endel is the brainchild of a Berlin-based team of artists, developers, and scientists who have worked together on various mobile products – including the award-winning kids’ app series, BUBL. Investors include Amazon Alexa Fund, Avex Inc., Major Lazer’s Jillionaire, Plus 8 Equity Partners, Kima Ventures, Impulse Ventures and world-famous DJ La Fleur. Endel is a Techstars Music’18 company. For more information on Endel, please visit http://endel.io
About UniKey Technologies, Inc.: UniKey Technologies, the world’s largest smart access control platform provider, is changing the way the world accesses everything by replacing the entire keychain with your phone. With the most secure and convenient mobile key platform, UniKey is empowering access control manufacturers with the tools to future-proof their legacy systems. Leveraging Touch-to-Open® and Inside/Outside Intelligence®, UniKey’s platform powers an unparalleled, passive user experience. UniKey serves the access control industry by licensing its technology, and partnering with market-leading companies in the residential, commercial, automotive industries, and beyond. For more information on UniKey, please visit http://www.unikey.com.
About the UCF Business Incubation Program: The University of Central Florida Business Incubation Program is a community resource that provides early-stage companies with the tools, training and infrastructure to become financially stable, high growth/impact enterprises. Since 1999, this award-winning program has helped over 390 local startup companies reach their potential faster by providing vital business development resources.
With seven facilities throughout the region, the UCF Business Incubation Program is an economic development partnership between the University of Central Florida, the Corridor, Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Volusia counties, and the cities of Apopka, Kissimmee, Orlando and Winter Springs. For the 2016/17 and 2017 /18 fiscal years, the activities of these participating firms have helped sustain more than 6,275 local jobs and have had a cumulative impact of more than $888 million on regional GDP and more than $1.59 billion on regional sales. During the same period, the program has returned $12.03 for every $1 invested in the program. For more information, visit www.incubator.ucf.edu
