Just Wear Headphones • Hacker News Board

Re: Just Wear Headphones

#111

Post by mpdehaan2 » Mon, Jun 22, 2015, 4:06 PM UTC

Someone1234 wrote: post #77

mcculley wrote: post #63

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.

The problem with "real" micro-offices is that a lot of SMBs don't own the physical property, and instead they rent. These properties often have drop ceilings, so even if the "walls" of the office(s) hit the ceiling, sound would still very easily travel up and over (and removing the drop ceilings is expensive/hard). Companies had an alternative: Cubicles. They were modular, relatively inexpensive, and gave the experie…

I'm not sure the general age demographic here, but just in case people haven't seen cubes :)...

We hated cubes because they weren't offices, and Dilbert-style culture was common in companies with them, so they get rid of the cubes and gave us tables, and kept the same cultural problems.

This was perhaps the most crazy thing to do. We didn't hate the cubes, we wanted more privacy than the cubes provided.

Re: Just Wear Headphones

#112

Post by mpdehaan2 » Mon, Jun 22, 2015, 4:07 PM UTC

KaiserPro wrote: post #4

this quote is basically it: Music Is Distracting So, as someone who was taught from a young age that only one medium at one time was allowed, open plan offices are a pain in the tits for me. I used to sit next to a bloke who play wonderful music, but it never stopped. Trying to debug anything complex was impossible. Ultimately the only real way I could get round it was to use these: http://www.koss.com/en/products/he…

It would have been a good article to help champion the cause of "don't tell me I have to use headphones to work here", if not for the "music is distracting" point IMHO.

Music is sometimes orienting. A decent steady BPM can keep you going through even boring slogs without getting distracted sometimes.

That all being said, having to listen to music, having to decide on what to listen to, and not being able to achieve quiet when you don't want music, that's a problem.

It's wrong to say you HAVE to listen to music. It's great to listen to when you want to, but having to listen to it all day because you can't stand the noise can be rather oppressive.

Re: Just Wear Headphones

#113

Post by chinathrow » Mon, Jun 22, 2015, 4:07 PM UTC

MetaCosm wrote: post #86

freditup wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Would noise-cancelling headphones help address this? I imagine you can listen to music at a safer level if background noise is eliminated.

Yeah, generally ANC (Active Noise Cancellation) headphones can help. IEMs that block sounds are even better than ANC headphones.

To my expierience (since 2009), ANC works really great with steady tones such as the constant humming on a passenger plane or the motor sound of a sports plane.

But for voices, walking steps of folks, cars around you: not so much.

Re: Just Wear Headphones

#114

Post by JonnieCache » Mon, Jun 22, 2015, 4:09 PM UTC

freditup wrote: post #74

drzaiusapelord wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

Would noise-cancelling headphones help address this? I imagine you can listen to music at a safer level if background noise is eliminated.

Active noise cancelling should only really be needed in very loud environments, like the subway. In an office you should be fine with a well fitting set of closed back on/over-ear headphones.

I have a pair of Denon AH-D340 and I can't hear a damn thing with them on, even with a noisy conversation happening right next to me. I use them at 1/3 volume on my macbook most of the time. They have a lovely flat unhyped response as well, despite being styled after beats by dre.

If your office is as loud as a subway, my heart goes out to you.

Those fancy in ear monitoring ones are probably even better, but I personally find them uncomfortable.

Re: Just Wear Headphones

#115

Post by dpark » Mon, Jun 22, 2015, 4:10 PM UTC

oneeyedpigeon wrote: post #30

Raphmedia wrote: post #22

Wear earplugs and then put your over the ears headphones over them. The sound of your music should still get through (mostly from around the ear, through your skull). I do that with classical music and it makes the music sounds like it's coming from very far. It's very zen. Like sitting in the void while having music come to you from a distant area.

You shouldn't be using earplugs, though - I take it you're talking about something you actually put inside your ear. If you ask your doctor, they'll tell you never to put anything in your ear that's smaller than your elbow (I think it's an in-joke in the medical profession ;-)

> If you ask your doctor, they'll tell you never to put anything in your ear that's smaller than your elbow

I'm pretty sure doctors in general are not opposed to the use of earplugs. Doctors don't want you putting things like Q-Tips into your ears, because it's really easy to irritate the ear canal or worse accidentally puncture your ear drum. Ear plugs don't carry much risk (no chance of hitting the ear drum unless you're shoving them in with a stick, and should be gentle enough on the ear canal), and they are a very good idea if you're going to be exposed to loud noises. Good ear plugs can block as much noise as good earmuffs.

Doctors themselves (or their technicians) will put earplugs into your ears if they need to block noise, e.g., for an MRI or a hearing test.

Re: Just Wear Headphones

#116

Post by mhink » Mon, Jun 22, 2015, 4:14 PM UTC

JoshTriplett wrote: post #52

dbcooper wrote: post #11

I've found Music for Programming's mixes to be pretty good. http://musicforprogramming.net/ Dream Chimney's mixes on soundcloud also. https://soundcloud.com/the-dream-chimney In general, something classical, ambient, or minimal techno fits the bill.

Music for Programming has some interesting stuff, but personally, I need to systematically avoid anything with lyrics to have a hope of being productive while listening.

...?

I could be wrong, but the vast majority of MfP doesn't have lyrics. It's all atmospheric, vague, kinda droning music.

http://musicforprogramming.net/?c=aesthetic

Re: Just Wear Headphones

#117

Post by iamwil » Mon, Jun 22, 2015, 4:15 PM UTC

I end up wearing ear plugs inside of headphones to block out the noise. Sometimes I wear both because I'm afraid of hearing loss. But it's uncomfortable. I just feel like I have a stuffy sinus.

Re: Just Wear Headphones

#118

Post by Jankenstein » Mon, Jun 22, 2015, 4:16 PM UTC

JoshTriplett wrote: post #50

darylteo wrote: post #3

The "being watched" feeling is the big one for me. I don't mind wearing headphones because I love listening to music and I don't listen to it that loudly, but the sensation of feeling someone's eyes on you (to catch you on the split second you've refreshed reddit or facebook or something) is incredibly profound on the time it takes to zone into zen mode. Anecdotally funnily enough, the opposite seems to happen for me…

I've had the same experience with pair programming: when done with someone you get along very well with, and with the same goal in mind, one or the other of you might get stuck but rarely both at the same time. (And on those rare occasions, observing that we were both stuck was a good sign to more quickly treat it as a problem requiring deep thought, rather than staring at a screen for a while.)

I completely agree. Pair programming was mentally exhausting for me (4 sessions per day of 90 minutes), but we were almost constantly productive. When we both got stuck, that's when we would pair swap. It was the best job I've had so far, but it was exhausting. I stayed focused on the task at hand for the entire day. At the end of the day, however, I had absolutely no desire to work on side projects or learn something new. I was spent.

Re: Just Wear Headphones

#119

Post by jasonkostempski » Mon, Jun 22, 2015, 4:18 PM UTC

I have glass at the top 1/4 of my cubical walls. They happen to be angled in such a way that I pretty much get 360 view of the office. The reflection is soft enough that it's not as distracting as a solid mirror would be. I feel, at least for me, this solves the feeling of vulnerability with or without headphones in.

Re: Just Wear Headphones

#120

Post by dpark » Mon, Jun 22, 2015, 4:19 PM UTC

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 wish the social convention were to treat an open office like a library, and louder conversations happened in private offices.

Most open floorplans I've seen don't have sufficient private space, so moving conversations into offices ends up being impractical for the people working there.

Most open floor plans I've seen are also woefully lacking in noise-absorbing materials. A giant room with drywall and hard floor is a recipe for loud noise. Best case, you have acoustic tiles for ceiling and short-pile carpet, and everything else bounces the noise around. Libraries tend to have layouts that are conducive to noise absorption, with all the shelves of books and the small seating spaces scattered throughout.