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I've never particularly minded general office noises of the kind that can be cancelled out easily, but what gets me is when coworkers start to become stressed a
by dwringer 7y ago
I've never particularly minded general office noises of the kind that can be cancelled out easily, but what gets me is when coworkers start to become stressed and physically vent this in a way that makes noise - particularly when I can hear a mouse click getting louder and more violent, echoing off every surface in the office. Somehow my brain interprets this as an attack (evoking a fight-or-flight response that others have mentioned here) even though I highly doubt it's conscious at all on their part.
The other type of noise that really affects my ability to concentrate is loud whistling that people will sometimes do as they walk down the halls, again reflecting off all the surfaces in the office, which my brain seems to involuntarily interpret as "Hey! Hey! Hey, hey look! Hey!" and constantly resets my focus as though someone had just tapped me on the shoulder every few seconds.
When I'm not trying to concentrate hard on something I tend not to be bothered by even these noises - but when working it can feel almost like being physically harassed. I suppose this is a form of misophonia, but it is extremely context-dependent and at other times I enjoy the diversity of sounds (including the whistling).
- woodrowbarlow 7y ago> The other type of noise that really affects my ability to concentrate is loud whistling that people will sometimes do as they walk down the halls i work with radio equipment, and one of my coworkers always tests voice transmission by whistling into the mic. i do fine with noise but that one gets my goat a little bit.
- jsinai 7y ago> particularly when I hear a mouse click getting louder and more violent. What really gets to me is loud and furious typing. Otherwise most office noise doesn’t bother me. But that’s mostly because I’m surrounded by colleagues who I get along with.
- mark-r 7y agoI had to retire my mechanical keyboard at home, because it was driving my wife crazy in our shared home office.
- readme 7y agoThen get a mechanical keyboard and type louder. That's how you assert dominance.
- baroffoos 7y agoI hammer away at a cherry blue keyboard at work. No one has complained so far but I suspect it is because I have been here for longer than them.
- dijit 7y agoIt's actually a worry of mine that I'm very annoying to those around me in my open office and people are too polite or see me as too intimidating to say anything about it. I can either be the asshole who doesn't care, and subsequently be freed from my anxiety, or live in anxiety but at least not be as much of an asshole.
- L_Rahman 7y agoI also carry a mechanical keyboard around, and one of the ways I deal with this is to type for a few minutes and then sent out a message on the office chat to ask if it's bothering anyone and emphasizing that I'll stop if it's even the slightest bit annoying. Most of the time people tell me they didn't even realize I was typing with a non-standard keyboard.
- jdnenej 7y agoIf sound was an issue then the business shouldn't have made an open Office design.
- dijit 7y agoSound is one of those “incalculable” issues that, because it’s very intangible how it affects people it is subsequently difficult to put a dollar amount to fixing.
- mjrbrennan 7y agoI had this at a coworking space recently, someone working near me would SLAM SLAM SLAM SLAM on his keyboard when he was getting frustrated, sending vibrations through the desk, and I got that same attack interpretation. It _cannot_ be ignored.