The difference between a privacy pod and booth always seems to be a matter of semantics. After all, most people don’t seem to mind most of the technical details surrounding their architecture as long as they achieve a certain level of momentary solitude that can enable them to accomplish a particular task.
For decades, corporate culture has increasingly encouraged and promoted the open-space office model, with closed offices being reserved only for top management and above. Even with the availability of conference rooms, having privacy to carry out urgent and, sometimes, sensitive business conversations becomes challenging.
A private pod is a solution to the issue of a lack of privacy at the office. Imagine having a prospective client calling in for clarification about certain aspects of your company’s dealings. Of course, if you were the marketing representative, you would want to put your best foot forward. Being persuasive is key. Having such a call with the potential client in a noisy and chaotic office cubicle might not give a good impression if the client hears all the background noise during the call. Needless to say, you wouldn’t want any such thing to ruin a potential business deal. A private pod helps avoid such situations.
The definition of a private pod (or booth) is an enclosed compartment for private use. Such compartments were originally designed for broadcasting and other such communications. However, private pods can now be available to individuals that just want to carve out moments of privacy and quiet in chaotic places.
While semantics may be subjective, there’s no doubt that a private pod is useful in office settings for ensuring privacy.
A private pod gives a sense of privacy in the following ways:
1)Peace in a Chaotic Environment
A private pod is designed in such a way that it makes you feel shut out from everything around you, at least temporarily. This is accomplished thanks in large part to the materials used for acoustic soundproofing. These include acoustic membranes, fiberglass, and others. You can have a nice environment for private conversations while relaxing. In an office environment, it can often be overwhelming to focus on a private conversation with all the things going on. Being in a private pod gives that needed serenity to work, or think, without the regular disturbances of people going about their business.
2) Good Speech Intelligibility
The quiet environment provided by the private booth is not only good for needed silence but also for the intelligibility of your speech. Most people have difficulty holding a proper conversation and being coherent in a noisy and chaotic environment. With the acoustic soundproofing of private pods, you feel as though you’re holding a conversation close to the other person, only without the noise of the chaos around you. You don’t have to worry about the misinterpretation of your words as a result of syllables being unclear due to acoustic disturbances.
3) Familiarity
Being in a private pod has been described by most of its users as giving the feeling of “homeliness”—that sense of familiarity that comes from knowing a place inside out. This is a feeling people associate with their home environments. With ergonomic design always a consideration, the comfort you’ll experience will be reminiscent of your living room. When you’re locked inside a private pod, its glass panels will ensure that your immediate space is all yours with nothing to spook you.
These are the benefits that users of private pods report.
Characteristics of a Good Private Box
The objective of having the kind of privacy offered by private pods is to ensure that an individual gets the necessary seclusion when certain tasks like private conversations need to be conducted. To accomplish this, a private pod must have some key features, including:
i)Good Ceiling to Floor Design: While privacy is the objective, feeling suffocated is not. A private pod that is too small with restricted physical dimensions doesn’t make for a good environment for private conversations. Always go for one with a spacious floor-to-ceiling design.
ii) Ergonomics: Things like proper ventilation and lighting should be a given. The last thing you want is poor visibility because the space is poorly lit. The interior design plays a crucial role here; there should be adequate space for sitting or standing while in the private pod.
iii) Soundproofing: This is one of the most important features of a private pod. To ensure that unnecessary sounds are kept out, the private pod must have enough insulation provided by soundproofing materials. This ensures that outside disturbances are not an issue when holding a conversation in them.
Ultimately, you can expect complete privacy for your conversations when inside a private pod.
