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Just Wear Headphones

mattblodgett.com

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Re: Just Wear Headphones

#61

Post by JoshTriplett »

masklinn wrote: post #19
dilap wrote: post #5

I'm personally more or less a fan of open offices, but the noise really is a problem and unfortunate -- I wish the social convention were to treat an open office like a library, and louder conversations happened in private offices. In the meantime, I find that using ear-plugging headphones alone with some ear-muffs (for like construction work) over the top of the head, without actual music, is reasonably effective at…

> I'm personally more or less a fan of open offices, but the noise really is a problem and unfortunate -- I wish the social convention were to treat an open office like a library, and louder conversations happened in private offices. Then what's the point of open offices outside of penny-pinching?

"louder conversations" doesn't mean "all conversations".

That said, there are advantages and disadvantages to a high-interaction cube farm, and I'm not convinced the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. In particular, the productivity hit for people less comfortable in such a setting seems higher than the productivity gain for people more comfortable in such a setting. As much as many offices try to put everyone in the same type of environment, I think it would make sense to design floorplans that incorporate both offices and cubes, with different types of employees in different types of work environments.

Re: Just Wear Headphones

#62

Post by logfromblammo »

normloman wrote: post #18
acconrad wrote: post #7

Now to be fair I am in favor of giving employees isolated rooms to work in, however the reality is that at small startups they simply cannot afford that kind of office space. If you're concerned about noise and also the loudness of music playing in headphones, you can always get what construction workers use to block out noise: http://www.homedepot.com/p/Howard-Leight-Thunder-T3-Noise-Bl... They look pretty intense b…

" the reality is that at small startups they simply cannot afford that kind of office space." But I bet small startups could afford to let employees work from home a couple days a week.

Or four and a half days a week.

Actually, any startup that chooses new open-office workspaces over secondhand cubicles solely for reasons of cost might also want to consider moving to a location with cheaper office space leases. Even $5/sq.ft. is too high for a startup, regardless of the workspace furniture.

Re: Just Wear Headphones

#63

Post by mcculley »

I'm convinced that the ideal layout for developers is single offices, with doors, big enough for pair programming. Anything else is wasting developer attention and the opportunities for collaboration enabled while being in close proximity.

Re: Just Wear Headphones

#64

Post by zamalek »

> Side Note: Noise-Cancelling Headphones

What I've seen done by e-sports events such as WCS is to use earphones in combination with mufflers[1] to cut out the live spectator noise - yes the ones they use on a rifle range.

I can vouch that such a solution works as my room mate in residence would watch series up until ungodly hours of the morning: wearing no-name rifle range ear mufflers eliminated enough (broad-spectrum) noise to allow me to sleep with no issues whatsoever; I would assume it would cut out enough noise for concentration (given that they go as far as reducing the sounds of gun fire) - even without adding music to the equation.

[1]: http://catalogue.3m.eu/en_ZA/PPESafetyProducts/Ear_Plugs_and... - this specific model is frequently seen in WCS.

Re: Just Wear Headphones

#65

Post by drzaiusapelord »

Gonzih wrote: post #17
vtlynch wrote: post #12

Interesting question: How many companies who use open offices style floorplans have executives who still have their own offices? Maybe this is just another permutation of the out of touch boss problem. Nothing makes it harder to understand the downfalls of an open office than not working in one yourself.

There is another problem here. Most executives are extroverts, so for them being in the environment like that feels right and good. Does not really help with understanding in my experience.

Yeah but they choose when to be extroverted. They still want a status signifying office for when they don't want to be bothered. Meanwhile, open plan employees are always being bothered.

Re: Just Wear Headphones

#66

Post by gcv »

calpaterson wrote: post #28
gcv wrote: post #25

The rules of thumb about "60% of maximum volume for 60 minutes" and "if you can't hear your surroundings, it's too loud" are nonsense. Dangerous volume settings depend on a headphone's sensitivity, the output device power, the headphone's isolation ability, and the recording. These parameters vary. Wildly. A well-fitting isolating IEM can slice off 25dB of noise, more than enough to (mostly) eliminate background conv…

It might be helpful if you could offer citations for that. I find it hard to judge these competing claims

Sure. I added some reading material links to my comment. The Rane document has an OSHA safe sound levels table at the end, a good reference. Keep in mind that the dB scale is logarithmic if you want to crunch numbers on device power, headphone sensitivity and impedance, and resulting SPLs.

Re: Just Wear Headphones

#68

Post by SixSigma »

zamalek wrote: post #64

> Side Note: Noise-Cancelling Headphones What I've seen done by e-sports events such as WCS is to use earphones in combination with mufflers[1] to cut out the live spectator noise - yes the ones they use on a rifle range. I can vouch that such a solution works as my room mate in residence would watch series up until ungodly hours of the morning: wearing no-name rifle range ear mufflers eliminated enough (broad-spectr…

Noise Reduction technology works great.

I use my Sony Walkman with noise reduction and no music to calm down my environment.

Re: Just Wear Headphones

#69

Post by dsr_ »

calpaterson wrote: post #28
gcv wrote: post #25

The rules of thumb about "60% of maximum volume for 60 minutes" and "if you can't hear your surroundings, it's too loud" are nonsense. Dangerous volume settings depend on a headphone's sensitivity, the output device power, the headphone's isolation ability, and the recording. These parameters vary. Wildly. A well-fitting isolating IEM can slice off 25dB of noise, more than enough to (mostly) eliminate background conv…

It might be helpful if you could offer citations for that. I find it hard to judge these competing claims

Here's OSHA and NIOSH:

https://www.osha.gov/SLTC/noisehearingconservation/

TL;DR: NIOSH would recommend limiting the 8 hour exposure to less than 85 dBA. At 100 dBA, NIOSH recommends less than 15 minutes of exposure per day. NIOSH also recommends a 3 dBA exchange rate so that every increase by 3 dBA doubles the amount of the noise and halves the recommended amount of exposure time.

15 minutes is 7 doublings away from 32 hours, i.e. constant exposure. So, 100-(7*3)= 79dBA is safe, and 82dBA is safe for long-term exposure, and 85dBA is a limit at which you should have hearing protection.

Re: Just Wear Headphones

#70

Post by mondoshawan »

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #54
kazinator wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Get a second opinion. Maybe they are trying to sell you on expensive hearing aids. It's also possible you didn't ever have great hearing. (Do you have any "before" audiogram to compare against, from when you were a child?)

Uh, seriously? Right now we have a huge public health issue with young people and hearing loss. It isn't some scam. Turns out the ipod/iphone revolution came with some external costs. http://learningenglish.voanews.com/content/one-billion-young... "If a person takes a subway to go from one place to the other for half an hour in the morning and a half an hour in the evening, and every day has to turn up the volume on…

How about both? Taking BART into SF for an hour every day, then wearing headphones the entire workday because of the open floor plan.

I do this now -- pretty worried about my hearing...

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