A communication device includes a loudspeaker to transmit sound into a room. A signal having a white noise-like frequency spectrum spanning a frequency range of human hearing is generated. Auditory thresholds of human hearing for frequencies spanning the frequency range are stored. Respective levels of background noise in the room at the frequencies are determined. The white noise-like frequency spectrum is spectrally shaped to produce a shaped frequency spectrum having, for each frequency, a respective level that follows either the auditory threshold or the level of background noise at that frequency, whichever is greater. The shaped frequency spectrum is transmitted from the loudspeaker into the room.