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White noise SHOULD help as long as it's consistent and uninterrupted. Aircon coming on and off will get your attention but a constant drone should be eventually

White noise SHOULD help as long as it's consistent and uninterrupted. Aircon coming on and off will get your attention but a constant drone should be eventually ignored by your brain. You could try some active noise cancellation headphones with something like http://rain.today http://rain.today or http://mynoise.net http://mynoise.net, I use this all the time at work to generate non-musical noise at low volumes and it blocks out all the office noise. Recommended headphones would be the Bose QC series or the AudioTechnica ones. I'm sure there are others!

pklausler 10y ago
> it blocks out all the office noise. Our office would look at those 'phones and mutter "challenge accepted".
jacobolus 10y ago
> White noise SHOULD help as long as it's consistent and uninterrupted. Aircon coming on and off will get your attention but a constant drone should be eventually ignored by your brain. My anecdotal evidence from talking to friends and coworkers is that this varies from person to person. Some people can work very well in a crowded coffeeshop with loud random background chatter, and find complete silence to be distracting. Others like working to a sound like rain or ocean waves. Others like a rhythmic sound like fast-paced electronic music. Others need complete silence, and can’t deal with pure white noise. My speculation is that it has a lot to do with past experience/practice.
goodcanadian 10y ago
Studies have shown that background noise increases stress even when we are not consciously aware of it. The best reference I could find with minimal effort is about halfway down ("How does background noise affect our concentration?"): https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ask-the-brains-background-noise/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ask-the-brains-ba... Several studies have indicated that stress resulting from ongoing white noise can induce the release of cortisol . . .
maxxxxx 10y ago
Not to stereotype people but the white noise thing seems to be very American. Same as having TVs run everywhere so there is some background noise. Personally I want it just quiet. I also don't want to have headphones on my ears for an extended period.
- alasdair_ 10y ago
  Agreed. It drove me insane (almost literally) with the number of people that insisted on having a loud fan or a tv on just for the notice once I moved to the US.
- alasdair_ 10y ago
  Agreed. It drove me insane (almost literally) with the number of people that insisted on having a loud fan or a tv on just for the notice once I moved to the US.
- ryan-allen 10y ago
  I'm Australian :) Quiet is very elusive. The only place I can get absolute quiet is at home.
neltnerb 10y ago
I did a little unintentional experiment about this. I worked at a lab in a basement where there was a lot of constant basically white noise. Nothing stood out, it was just a lot of things like ventilation ducts. I noticed after a few months that I couldn't figure out how to solve some problem until I was walking home. Curious if it was the timing or the noise, I got some hardcore machine shop ear protection that I wore from then on. Suddenly I was dramatically better able to focus at work. The dull roar in the background was definitely just sort of consuming attention unconsciously and seriously slowing me down. It was really loud in there though, every place I've worked since it's always conversations and sudden noises like doors opening that distracts me. I would never have heard a conversation a few desks away at the earlier place.
- rconti 10y ago
  was your walk home in a quiet environment? or just different kinds of background noise?
  - neltnerb 10y ago
    Just typical street noise in Cambridge, MA. Quieter for sure than the lab.
mgkimsal 10y ago
This works for me quite well - qc20 running whitenoisefree - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/white-noise-free-sounds-for/id292987597?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/white-noise-free-sounds-for/... using "brown noise" and "grey noise" mix, running quiet. However, now that I'm reading other comments, I'm wondering if it's still a concentration breaker like others are saying. I def don't feel I can concentrate as much as I did a year ago, but I've got literally 3x as much work as I used to have, so I can't really tell if it's the noise or just too much on my mind... :/ Been wanting to try the QC30, but reviews indicate the noise cancelling is less than the QC20, not more.

pklausler 10y ago

> it blocks out all the office noise. Our office would look at those 'phones and mutter "challenge accepted".

jacobolus 10y ago

> White noise SHOULD help as long as it's consistent and uninterrupted. Aircon coming on and off will get your attention but a constant drone should be eventually ignored by your brain. My anecdotal evidence from talking to friends and coworkers is that this varies from person to person. Some people can work very well in a crowded coffeeshop with loud random background chatter, and find complete silence to be distracting. Others like working to a sound like rain or ocean waves. Others like a rhythmic sound like fast-paced electronic music. Others need complete silence, and can’t deal with pure white noise. My speculation is that it has a lot to do with past experience/practice.

goodcanadian 10y ago

Studies have shown that background noise increases stress even when we are not consciously aware of it. The best reference I could find with minimal effort is about halfway down ("How does background noise affect our concentration?"): https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ask-the-brains-background-noise/ https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/ask-the-brains-ba... Several studies have indicated that stress resulting from ongoing white noise can induce the release of cortisol . . .

maxxxxx 10y ago

Not to stereotype people but the white noise thing seems to be very American. Same as having TVs run everywhere so there is some background noise. Personally I want it just quiet. I also don't want to have headphones on my ears for an extended period.

alasdair_ 10y ago
Agreed. It drove me insane (almost literally) with the number of people that insisted on having a loud fan or a tv on just for the notice once I moved to the US.
alasdair_ 10y ago
Agreed. It drove me insane (almost literally) with the number of people that insisted on having a loud fan or a tv on just for the notice once I moved to the US.
ryan-allen 10y ago
I'm Australian :) Quiet is very elusive. The only place I can get absolute quiet is at home.

neltnerb 10y ago

I did a little unintentional experiment about this. I worked at a lab in a basement where there was a lot of constant basically white noise. Nothing stood out, it was just a lot of things like ventilation ducts. I noticed after a few months that I couldn't figure out how to solve some problem until I was walking home. Curious if it was the timing or the noise, I got some hardcore machine shop ear protection that I wore from then on. Suddenly I was dramatically better able to focus at work. The dull roar in the background was definitely just sort of consuming attention unconsciously and seriously slowing me down. It was really loud in there though, every place I've worked since it's always conversations and sudden noises like doors opening that distracts me. I would never have heard a conversation a few desks away at the earlier place.

rconti 10y ago
was your walk home in a quiet environment? or just different kinds of background noise?
- neltnerb 10y ago
  Just typical street noise in Cambridge, MA. Quieter for sure than the lab.

mgkimsal 10y ago

This works for me quite well - qc20 running whitenoisefree - https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/white-noise-free-sounds-for/id292987597?mt=8 https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/white-noise-free-sounds-for/... using "brown noise" and "grey noise" mix, running quiet. However, now that I'm reading other comments, I'm wondering if it's still a concentration breaker like others are saying. I def don't feel I can concentrate as much as I did a year ago, but I've got literally 3x as much work as I used to have, so I can't really tell if it's the noise or just too much on my mind... :/ Been wanting to try the QC30, but reviews indicate the noise cancelling is less than the QC20, not more.