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Office noise bothers some people more than others

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Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#211

Post by tenebrisalietum »

tzs wrote: post #100
734129837261 wrote: post #67

My biggest triggers are people who eat crunchy food with open mouths; people who slurp their drinks; people who are oblivious to their environment and sing loudly in open offices. Colleagues next to me eating hard carrots, chips, anything crunchy. Or Chinese expats who slurp their soup and coffee (normal in their culture; rude in mine)... it drove me crazy. The singing one drove me insane at my last job. An office la…

We had a guy who narrated whatever he was doing, in third person. Let's call him Bob. Suppose Bob needed to FTP a file from a server, print it, staple the pages together, and then give it to me. During this entire process, Bob would talk, saying something like this: > Bob is starting the FTP program. Bob is typing his name and password. Bob is starting the file transfer. Bob's exiting. Bob is selecting the file and p…

Was Bob logging his actions to a recording device?

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#212

Post by rootusrootus »

chadash wrote: post #103
jackhack wrote: post #80

There are two mutually exclusive groups of people: "Concentrators(1)" and "Communicators(2)". Concentrators must have conditions that allow one to form and hold complex ideas, and act upon them. This is almost always some degree of a quiet environment, without visual or auditory distractions. the opposite of the ideal conditions of Communicators. Communicators must interact with others to do their job. (1) Typical of…

Counterpoint: John von Neumann, arguably one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, claimed to do some of his best work in front of the TV. In my personal experience, I know plenty of engineers who don't mind noise. I think it's a personal thing more than anything and it's hard to generalize.

When I'm really cranking away at something, I like loud music. Like, really loud. I really don't like silence ever, to be honest, and I don't consider myself a member of the 'communicator' group.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#213

Post by nkrisc »

organsnyder wrote: post #142
nkrisc wrote: post #3

Constant coughing and throat clearing drive me up the wall . I despise working around most smokers as many of them have this unconscious, horrid smoker's cough that they do a few times a minute on average, it seems (I haven't actually counted). But any constant throat clearing sets me off and I usually have to leave or I can't focus on anything. The type of throat clearing I'm talking about is when someone really jus…

I'm often one of those people. Not a smoker, but a bunch of allergies as well as asthma. Allergy shots and inhalers have made a big difference, but some days can still be pretty bad.

To be fair I don't necessarily begrudge them it, especially not in cases where it's a medical condition. I mean even with smokers there's not much they can do, the damage is done. Doesn't make it any less irritating though, but I know no one is doing it intentionally.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#214

Post by zeta0134 »

navs wrote: post #135

I currently work for a startup and all three of us are hotdesking. We're constantly moved to new spaces in the hotdesking space because a new company is leaving/moving in. I've sat beside recruiters, property managers and salespeople. There's no "quiet" room. The meeting rooms cost a few hundred and need to be pre-booked. My home environment isn't a quiet refuge either. Beside a busy street, more flatmates than their…

I know this isn't a great solution, but could you try a lightweight pair of headphones, and some relaxing music? Not particularly heavy music mind, but just something you can leave in the background. Maybe a movie soundtrack. I use videogame OSTs but that's not everyone's cup of tea.

This would maybe make the headphone issue more bearable (lightweight - much less uncomfortable for long periods), and the goal isn't to block out all sound, but rather to give your mind something else to focus on from an auditory standpoint. I find, personally, that having a musical anchor makes the task of mentally filtering out the noise much easier; I end up subconsciously following the melody and grooving with the rhythm a bit, but because there's no lyrics, it doesn't pull me out of the task at hand.

Everyone's different, so what works for me might not work for you, but maybe give it a shot for a week and see how effective it is. Worth a try at least.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#215

Post by tenebrisalietum »

asdf21 wrote: post #84
Ididntdothis wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is generally a problem. We put people into these large categories like “liberal/conservative” or “introvert/extrovert” and then expect that to neatly explain a whole range of behaviors and preferences. In reality people rarely fall completely into these categories.

Humans are stereotyping / categorizing machines, we can't help it.

Abstracting. Humans like to abstract things into manageable portions.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#216

Post by BowBun »

adrr wrote: post #209
chadash wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Counterpoint: John von Neumann, arguably one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, claimed to do some of his best work in front of the TV. In my personal experience, I know plenty of engineers who don't mind noise. I think it's a personal thing more than anything and it's hard to generalize.

Attention control with distracting external stimuli is associated to higher intelligence.

Source?

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#217

Post by mrandish »

I work at home in a very quiet neighborhood with excellent sound insulation and a silent PC. My home office is very, very quiet. I consider this a great luxury of life well-lived.

Then someone bought the empty lot next door and started building a house. I ordered these 3M X5A earmuffs for $30. They are remarkably effective and proved to be a terrific investment.

https://smile.amazon.com/3M-Peltor-Over-Earmuffs-X5A/dp/B00C...

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#218

Post by izzydata »

As someone with misophonia I wear noise canceling headphones at all times at work. Somehow my office mates are constantly eating, sniffling, grunting, coughing or loudly talking.

At least I can block out most of that with music, but I'd really like to be capable of interacting with my co-workers more naturally.

I have to get up and walk away on my own a lot to make sure I don't snap. Wearing headphones 24/7 also makes my head sore and often gives me headaches.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#219

Post by oneredoak »

magduf wrote: post #159
navs wrote: post #135

I currently work for a startup and all three of us are hotdesking. We're constantly moved to new spaces in the hotdesking space because a new company is leaving/moving in. I've sat beside recruiters, property managers and salespeople. There's no "quiet" room. The meeting rooms cost a few hundred and need to be pre-booked. My home environment isn't a quiet refuge either. Beside a busy street, more flatmates than their…

>Yes, you can use noise cancelling headphones but: >2. They don't really block all the noise and you live in anxiety waiting for that one blaring ringtone to squeeze through NC headphones aren't designed to block all noise, only repetitive noise, basically white noise. Other noises, like ringtones, actually are louder or easier to hear on many models of NC headphones, as is speech around you. Noise-cancellation's pur…

You're generally right (in my experience) regarding ANC but I've found that Sony's WH-1000XM3 over-ear headphones do an excellent job with higher frequencies and "one off" sounds. I'm also a big fan of Mubert, an iOS app that generates non-distracting instrumental sound tracks.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#220

Post by zepto »

magduf wrote: post #164
jackhack wrote: post #80

There are two mutually exclusive groups of people: "Concentrators(1)" and "Communicators(2)". Concentrators must have conditions that allow one to form and hold complex ideas, and act upon them. This is almost always some degree of a quiet environment, without visual or auditory distractions. the opposite of the ideal conditions of Communicators. Communicators must interact with others to do their job. (1) Typical of…

This is no longer true. Most younger people in engineering/CS fields are the "communicator" type and like to work in noisy, open-office environments, and frequently side-by-side. It's usually older and/or more introverted people who complain about the open-office craze, but there's absolutely no shortage of programmers who will strongly defend it.

No longer true because those are the only people who can succeed in the poor office environment?
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