What is a Decibel (dB)?

A decibel, abbreviated dB, is a unit of measurement for the intensity of sounds. A very faint sound might have a decibel level of 0, while loud concerts may reach 120 decibels or more. Typical conversations are around 60 decibels, while whispered ones might be 15 decibels. Being exposed to 85 decibels of noise for an extended period of time will damage a person's hearing. A 140-decibel sound will cause immediate hearing damage.

Call centers worry about decibels, in a somewhat indirect way, because they are concerned with background noise. The call center floor can be a noisy place because there are so many people talking at once. The noise level can be affected by the density of agents per square foot, the type of surfaces on furnishings, and what materials are used on walls, ceilings, and floors.

Call centers try to minimize the decibel level of background noise because it can affect the quality of customer calls. Mitigating background noise is a quick fix call centers can implement to improve the customer experience.


How NICE is Redefining Customer Experience

NICE CXone is the industry’s only interaction-centric platform where channels, data, applications, and knowledge converge to improve customer experience at scale.

It is the leading, most complete and unified CX Platform on the market, used by thousands of organizations of all sizes around the world to help them consistently deliver exceptional customer experiences. CXone is a cloud native, unified suite of applications designed to help you holistically run your call (or contact) center operations.


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