Oeler Industries, Inc.

CAN'T HEAR YOURSELF EAT? If you’ve ever been out to dinner at a crowded bar or restaurant and found it difficult to hear yourself think let alone carry on a conversation, you won’t find it hard to believe that one of the most overlooked factors in the designing of restaurants, bars, and clubs is acoustics. The challenge is to create an atmosphere that is lively enough to engage the patrons, while controlling over reverberant spaces and unnecessary noise levels. Oeler Industr...ies, Inc. has helped many bars and restaurants address these problems. We work with architects during the design phase to help integrate effective acoustic treatment while maintaining the desired aesthetics. We also come to the aid of established restaurants looking to correct problems after they have opened. Some of our local projects are Bistro 19 in Mount Lebanon, Altius Fine Dining in Mount Washington, and both the Andrews Steakhouse and Wheelhouse Bar & Grill at Rivers Casino. The photo below shows Matt Oeler of Oeler Industries, Inc. inspecting a Novawall stretched fabric acoustic ceiling system installation at Altius Fine Dining. LEARN MORE ABOUT WE HANDLE RESTAURANT NOISE: http://www.oeler.com/restaurants-bars-clubs/

THE MOST COMMON COMPLAINT ABOUT HOSPITAL STAYS? . NOISE! If you’ve ever been unlucky enough to spend some time in the hospital you know what it’s like to struggle to get some much needed rest! Disturbances such as voices echoing in the hallways, squeaky cart wheels, the beeping of monitoring equipment, and busy nurses’ stations can be a serious detriment to patient recovery. It has been found that an environment which produces fewer disruptions and allows for more consisten...t patient rest, contributes to faster recovery and lower readmission rates. In March of 2008, agencies within The Federal Department of Health and Human Services implemented The HCAHPS, (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) Survey in order to collect data for measuring patients' perceptions of their hospital experience. Recent refinements have been made in order to collect data to include the variable Quiet. The survey asks, During this hospital stay, how often was the area around your room quiet at night? The results were that more than half of all U.S. hospitals failed in the area of providing quiet comfort. The good news is that now with noise levels under scrutiny, hospitals are rising to the challenge of improving their survey numbers with an emphasis on acoustic atmosphere. So what about the sounds that are impossible or impractical to eliminate? SOUND MASKING! Commonly called white noise machines, sound masking systems baffle the atmosphere across a space while still allowing for clear communications where desired. Lencore Acoustics, the leader in sound masking technology, implements digital audio processing into their systems, making it possible to tailor just the right softening tone for many different rooms, corridors and open spaces. In addition to unwanted noise, patients are becoming more and more aware of protecting their private information. A sound masking system’s ability to knock down the voice level of nearby conversations increases privacy and provides additional safety in complying with HIPAA, (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), regulations. This act provides data privacy and security provisions for safeguarding patients’ medical information, particularly in areas such as admissions desks, pharmacies, and waiting rooms. Oeler Industries, Inc. is a continuing participant in providing local hospitals and health care facilities with state of the art sound masking systems and acoustic solutions. LEARN MORE ABOUT SOUND MASKING: http://www.oeler.com/sound-masking/ LEARN MORE ABOUT SOUND MASKING SYSTEMS: http://www.oeler.com/sound-masking-systems/

WHAT IS SOUNDPROOFING? The term soundproofing is a general term and the most commonly used when referring to any type of noise reduction. Google soundproofing and it will return about five and a half million results! That’s a lot of information; some good, some not so good; it can get confusing fast. If you’re not an expert, how are you supposed to sort through it? Let’s say you’ve built your man cave only to find out that you can’t crank up your state of the art home t...heater system without waking the kids. You know you have a noise problem, but what to do about it is not quite as clear. With so much information and so many products out there, how do you choose the best solution? DO YOUR HOMEWORK! Most of us don’t want to have to read a bunch of technical mumbo jumbo but it doesn’t have to get that complicated. By first understanding the simple basics of noise control - Absorb, Block, and Cover, you will be a much more informed consumer, and more likely to choose the correct path to correcting your noise issue. LEARN THE A, B, C’s OF ACOUSTICS: http://www.oeler.com/acoustic-basics/

ACOUSTICS GOES GREEN! In honor of St. Patrick’s Day the topic is environmentally friendly acoustic products. In response to the demand for building components with sustainable and environmentally friendly attributes, acoustic product manufacturers have modified their products to expand the choices available to the design community, architects, and specifiers in order to meet these demands. For example, in response to concern over PVC based building materials, NOVAWALL Systems..., Inc., manufacturer of acoustic stretch wall fabric systems, researched several plastic compounds for their extruded track system for two years before finding a PVC Free alternative that had the same strengths and attributes as their PVC based products. Now NOVAWALL offers a completely PVC Free, Class A, 100% recyclable plastic extrusion. Combined with a formaldehyde-free acoustic fiberglass or natural fiber core, this system is as Green as it gets! NOVAWALL Systems, Inc. has been in support of the sustainable building movement since 2002 and a member of the USGBC since 2003.The NOVAWALL systems all have sustainable, environmentally friendly attributes depending on the components chosen for the system and can contribute to several LEED, (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), credits. DID YOU KNOW THAT PITTSBURGH NOW HAS MORE GREEN SQUARE FOOTAGE THAN ANY OTHER CITY? CHECK IT OUT: http://www.visitpittsburgh.com//architectu/green-buildings LEARN MORE ABOUT STRETCH WALL FABRIC SYSTEMS: http://www.oeler.com/stretchwall-fabric-systems

DO YOU WORK IN A NOISY OFFICE SPACE? If your work environment makes you feel distracted or less productive you’re not alone. Because an office space has a lot of reflective hard surfaces such as drywall, tile, glass, desks, and counter tops, the space can become too reverberant making it hard to understand normal levels of speech. To compound the problem, the trend towards open office spaces allow for better collaboration but presents speech privacy problems. If a co-worker c...an hear and discern conversations going on around him or her, they become distracted and unproductive. It also makes it difficult to protect sensitive private data from being overheard. Office spaces can also sometimes be plagued by noise sources such as mechanical rooms, rooftop HVAC systems, or outside traffic noise. LEARN ABOUT CONTROLLING NOISE IN OFFICE SPACES: http://www.oeler.com/offices/ LEARN ABOUT SOUND MASKING: http://www.oeler.com/sound-masking/