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Ask HN: Does your office have quiet working conditions?

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Re: Ask HN: Does your office have quiet working conditions?

#12
post #8

Wow, that's horrible. I would probably get nothing done in that office. Mine is silent apart from occasional talking, but even then for anything extended/scheduled people tend to grab a room so it doesn't disturb others. I would recommend getting some better headphones/foam earbud tips to block the noise. I have some earbuds with Comply foam tips, which block noise extremely well at safe listening volumes to the poin…

I've got some Sennheiser HD25's atm. I've been looking into headphones (over-ear & closed) that are better are reducing external noise. The comply foam tips look interesting, thanks for the tip :)

Re: Ask HN: Does your office have quiet working conditions?

#14
We don't have music, we get White Noise pumped through the PA system 24/7. It has the weird effect of the overall ambient noise being slightly higher than no sound. But it also makes keyboard and voice noises attenuate to background more quickly, so I don't (intelligibly) here people talking across the room.

It's fairly open office with 4' cube walls organizing things into sections.

I use my headphones to listen to music about 70% of the time. I put up a sign that reads, "Super headphones in. I can't hear you. please kick chair or otherwise make your presence known."

Unless you're an elevator attendant, work in retail, or someplace like a salon I don't think you should have to deal with mandatory workplace music.

Instead of using louder noises to block out your office, have you had any success with active noise cancellation headphones?

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