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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

#381

Post by JASchilz »

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…

I'm going to give the advice here that saved my sanity in an open office: use headphones with "passive" noise canceling. I bought a pair of 3M WorkTunes with Bluetooth. They're just passive, sound deadening, hearing protection ear muffs like you would wear on a factory floor or in a construction workplace, with Bluetooth built. It blocks out all noise, not just white noise, and they're much cheaper than ANC head phones.

I wear the WorkTunes, plus ear plugs, plus I play cafe or brown noise through the headphones, plus I sometimes put on music. If that hadn't worked, I was going to go insane from the sound of the keyboard next to me.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#382

Post by wahern »

rtpg wrote: post #362
waterhouse wrote: post #350

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Your comment seems a bit tongue in cheek and you probably know, but anyway... Theoretically, the brain can get used to certain kinds of regular noise and filter it out, and then, if the disruption is a small sound that occurs irregularly... if you add constant white noise that's louder than the sound, then the sound should get quite literally lost in the noise. There is an analogy to light that actually applies. Imag…

> Theoretically, the brain can get used to certain kinds of regular noise and filter it out, and then, if the disruption is a small sound that occurs irregularly... if you add constant white noise that's louder than the sound, then the sound should get quite literally lost in the noise. Just an FYI, while this is basically true for neurotypical people, for some people (for example those with ADHD or who might be on t…

White noise machines are recommended for people with sound sensitivities who have trouble falling asleep, including those with ADHD and autism. Whether it works well or exacerbates the issue depends on the individual, but assuming that it would simply add to the cognitive load is a stretch, and I wouldn't be surprised if in fact it worked more often than not.

One of the most popular white noise machines is the Marpac Dohm Classic, which many people (including myself) would vouch for.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#383

Post by anonytrary »

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.

TV to Von Neumann was probably like white noise to the average person. Plenty of people use white noise to help them think, fall asleep, etc.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#384

Post by btashton »

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…

When I took a few months off to work on some of my own projects I found that universities have a lot of quite space that is open to the public. Sometimes it's the study area in the main library or in department specific libraries. My local university library also offered a special library card for the public that let me access all the resources in the library including scholarly papers which was even more useful for what I was working on.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#385

Post by RestlessMind »

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…

Maybe there is a good startup opportunity here - to provide quiet space for those who need to work/study/read/sit in peace. In my hometown, there used to be many such "study rooms" and I saw them pretty much full all the time, yet very very quiet. Silence was strictly enforced.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#386

Post by louis8799 »

anonytrary wrote: post #383
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.

TV to Von Neumann was probably like white noise to the average person. Plenty of people use white noise to help them think, fall asleep, etc.

Yes, I need the sound of air-con to help me fall asleep.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#387

Post by ken »

waterhouse wrote: post #350
ken wrote: post #337

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve never understood how some people believe that the problem of too much noise could be solved by adding more noise. There’s too much light in my eyes, and dark glasses are uncomfortable. Well, have you tried shining another light at your face? Maybe a different color of light would help.

Your comment seems a bit tongue in cheek and you probably know, but anyway... Theoretically, the brain can get used to certain kinds of regular noise and filter it out, and then, if the disruption is a small sound that occurs irregularly... if you add constant white noise that's louder than the sound, then the sound should get quite literally lost in the noise. There is an analogy to light that actually applies. Imag…

> Theoretically, the brain can

What “theory” is this? Because I’ve tried it (not by choice) in practice, many times, over the decades, and never found it to work at all. I’m genuinely curious why people think it could ever work, when empirically it does not.

Theoretically the brain will adapt to working while hanging 100’ in the air, too. I adapt to height fairly quickly and don’t mind working up in the air. Many people apparently do, and no amount of telling them that it’s “theoretically” possible will make them productive workers there.

It seems patently unfair that modern offices picked the one type of distracting sensory input that happens to be my kryptonite.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#388

Post by wenc »

RestlessMind wrote: post #385
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…

Maybe there is a good startup opportunity here - to provide quiet space for those who need to work/study/read/sit in peace. In my hometown, there used to be many such "study rooms" and I saw them pretty much full all the time, yet very very quiet. Silence was strictly enforced.

I use the local library for this. There are some really nice libraries where I live (in Chicago) and they are generally quiet, except for the few that have a kids' area that isn't sufficiently isolated.

I know in some countries there are dedicated study spaces which you can pay to access. That would indeed be nice. Co-working spaces could have served this role except many play up the social aspects and have open office configurations. They do have private office spaces but they are expensive.

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#389

Post by dmix »

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…

There are some (higher-end) hearing-aid style ear buds that monitor external sound and filter it out or focus in on local sounds only.

This is far better than the whole totally enclosed ear-muffs + disposable ear buds approach (which does work but creates an uncomfortable pressure on your ears):

https://spectrum.ieee.org/consumer-electronics/audiovideo/he...

> Scenario 2: You find yourself at a popular new restaurant, where loud music and reverberant acoustics make it difficult to hold conversations (even if you don’t have hearing loss). Your hearables are monitoring your mental effort, again by tracking your brain waves, determining when you are struggling to hear. They then appropriately adjust the signal-to-noise ratio and directionality of their built-in mics to make it easier for you to understand what people nearby are saying. These hearables can distinguish your friends from the patrons you wish to ignore, based on audio fingerprints that the device previously collected.

Some of these are still in development or super expensive.

In terms of some practical solutions today, there's a brand called IQbuds ($300-$500) which use a similar strategy and can be custom-molded to fit your ears (just like a hearing aid) so they can be worn over a full workday:

https://www.nuheara.com/iqbuds-boost/

Re: Office noise bothers some people more than others

#390

Post by lilfatbitch »

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…

You might have autism
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