Regulations regarding HIPAA oral privacy are spelled out in detail in the text of the law signed by President George W. Bush. The problem is that not everyone has an adequate mastery of legalese to understand this very technical and jargon filled law. What follows is a translation of HIPAA oral privacy regulation into simpler language we can all follow.

HIPAA Oral Privacy For The Common Person

HIPAA oral privacy restrictions are defined by the American Society of Test and Materials, or ASTM. This group has broken down the term oral privacy into three categories. These categories are based on what is called an articulation index. The articulation index measures the volume of spoken sound numerically in order to quantify what is deemed acceptable or not in a scientific manner for admission into courts of law. Articulation values that exceed 0.20 are easily understandable, and by the time it reaches 0.40 there is absolutely no privacy.

ATSM defines what it calls normal privacy as registering on the index between 0.05 and 0.20. This means that at this level someone trying to overhear a conversation would have to make a very concentrated effort to do so. The odds of someone accidentally intruding on a conversation at this level are remote.

ATSM further defines HIPAA oral privacy as confidential at levels below 0.05. Speech at this level is unintelligible by others. One great way to reach this level of privacy that is often used in the medical field is through the use of white noise sound masking technology.