If you've ever had your attendees start tapping to the soundtrack from the meeting room down the hall, then you know the problem: Hotels' “soundproof” walls don't always live up to their billing. If you're the type who wants to control all your meeting variables, a Cambridge, Mass. — based company has a technology to fight sound pollution that is remarkable for its size and cost.
Cambridge Sound Management's Sonet Acoustic Privacy System (www.officebuzz.com) is making noise with a sound-masking product released last year composed of two emitters and a volume control unit ($99), each not much bigger than a computer mouse. As is, the portable system masks sound for a small 200-square-foot room; add one emitter for each additional 100 square feet (a two-emitter extension kit costs $49.50).