Office noise bothers some people more than others

1. Noise masking - covering the external sound with another sound.

2. Noise blocking - sealing the ears so the external sound doesn't get through.

3. Noise canceling - active noise canceling technology which listens to external sound with a microphone and adds an inverted waveform to cancel it.

I use all three and they all work depending on the scenario and my preferences at the moment. The most effective noise-masking type is in-ear buds because they also provide noise blocking. I have an earlier version similar to these https://smile.amazon.com/Etymotic-Research-Noise-Isolating-E.... They are very effective and provide great sound. However, noise masking is usually only a shorter-duration option for me if I'm trying to work or otherwise focus because sounds tend to distract me even if it's ambient music I like or white/pink noise. Thus, trading an uncontrolled soundscape for a controlled one isn't always ideal for me. Some people also find in-ear styles less comfortable due to inserting in the ear canal.

For noise-blocking I use the X5A over-ear muffs that I linked above when at my home office desk. The upsides are high effectiveness and they come on and off quickly compared to in-ear plugs. Downsides are that they are too bulky to travel and over longer periods the clamping pressure can on occasion grow slightly fatiguing. This can be mitigated by bending the joining U-arm that goes over the top to stretch it a bit wider, possibly at the cost of slightly less noise-blocking. Long-duration comfort will depend on your particular ear and head shape but they work well for me. A general downside of over-ear style muffs is they can get in the way when sleeping if you're a side-sleeper.

When away from my desk I use foam in-ear plugs for noise-blocking because they are small and light. The biggest downside is that they take a bit of time to "install" properly for full effectiveness. They need to be compressed into a smaller tube shape by rolling them tightly between the fingers and then quickly inserted deep into the ear canal. Once in place they will slowly re-expand blocking external sound very effectively. If they are inserted properly, they can take a bit of time and care to remove. This is because they can create an air-tight vacuum seal in the ear canal and yanking them out quickly can be unpleasant.

I've tried many different brands of foam in-ears and these are the highest-rated for noise reduction (NRR 33) https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IL9MRLC. They are also comfortable for me but this will vary by person. My wife has smaller or more sensitive ear canals and prefers smaller in-ear plugs. That link has several sub-types and I keep a pair of both the plain and the corded type in my backpack when on the go. The plain type is good for sleeping whether on an airplane or when I check into a hotel at 3a and the last room they have sounds like it's inches from a highway, railyard, rock concert or airport runway. The corded type is easier/quicker to remove because they have the cord to pull on but the downside is the cord can occasionally conduct a bit of noise via vibration into the ear when it brushes against things. This style also has the benefit of the bright blue cord providing a visual cue to others that I have something in my ears and may not hear them if they talk to me. This is good when I'm in an open environment, coffee shop or restaurant. Unlike over-ears, in-ears also give me the flexibility to vary the amount of noise reduction by changing how deeply I seat them.

Finally, there are the active noise canceling variety. This type is especially well-suited for environments with constant background noise that's not overly loud, for example, airplane engines and office hubbub. I find them somewhat less effective at reducing loud primary sources like a person talking loudly next to you. They still will reduce the noise substantially but usually not eliminate it. Often the combination of ambient music, soundscapes or pink noise on low volume plus the active noise canceling is sufficient but not always. I have these https://smile.amazon.com/Bose-718840-0010-QuietComfort-Cance... and they work extraordinarily well. Downsides are that they are wired and have a small battery at the plug end of the cord. This is because active noise canceling requires constant DSP cycles and is thus power-hungry.

I haven't yet added wireless earbuds with active noise canceling (ANC) to my options. As of today, these tend to either have shorter battery life, less effective ANC or be high-cost. This is an example of good but expensive https://smile.amazon.com/Sony-WF-1000XM3-Industry-Canceling-.... I think the wireless ANC tech is still evolving too quickly to sink a lot of money in a pair. Also, I've previously misplaced a pair of cheap wireless earbuds which makes me more cautious. The MediaTek chipset that Sony uses is new and quite powerful but, fortunately, starting to be offered to other manufacturers (under MediaTek subsidiary's name) so I expect next year we'll see some of the well-regarded Chi-Fi vendors with sub-$100 options. I do have cheap (~$40) Chi-Fi wireless earbuds (non-ANC) that have excellent quality when external noise reduction isn't a priority.

In case you're not aware, there are also specialty earplugs designed to attenuate certain frequencies more than others. These are targeted primarily at performing musicians and concert-goers and often marketed under the term "Acoustic Filters" https://smile.amazon.com/s?k="acoustic+filters". These were previously quite expensive and could involve custom-fitted molds but prices have come down recently. I highly recommend using these when at concerts or clubs. Hearing loss sucks and is easily mitigated.

Hope that helps.

They're getting modded down because the argument is: people don't complain to me about open offices, therefore everyone is happy with open office layouts except people with autism.

> There aren't many places left that don't have open offices of some kind

Depends on what you mean by open office. Not many places have dedicated private offices for each developer, but cubicles, small team rooms, temporary private spaces etc... are very common.

>I have not met many people who complained about them. Usually, I'm the biggest complainer. I would take surveys with a grain of salt; of course complainers like me are going to be happy to voice their opinions in surveys like this, while other people probably don't bother taking the survey.

So take surveys with a grain of salt, but not anecdotal evidence? It's much more likely that you're suffering from selection and confirmation bias than it is that every survey I can find online is. We're not talking about online polls open to anyone, but randomized samples. Here's one where they hired an independent research agency that randomly sampled over 4k adults in the US. 66% of the office workers want a closed office layout. That's a huge margin--big enough to overcome any minor issues with the survey. And definitely stronger evidence than 2 people on hacker news saying that people don't complain to them.

https://files.getroom.com/ROOM-2018-Open-Office-Woes-Report....

> In my view, Americans are just loud and extroverted in general, and this extends to the current workers in this field.

You are definitely suffering from confirmation bias here.

Also basically every study that has been done on open office layouts shows that it's detrimental to business and moral.