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I would probably want this too. Noise-cancelling headphones help a lot to solve the audible noise problems of an open office, but do nothing to fix the issue of

I would probably want this too. Noise-cancelling headphones help a lot to solve the audible noise problems of an open office, but do nothing to fix the issue of visual noise with coworkers buzzing around and such which can be just as much of a productivity killer.

tablespoon 4y ago
> I would probably want this too. Noise-cancelling headphones help a lot to solve the audible noise problems of an open office... Really? I have noise-cancelling headphones (nice Bose ones), and I've never considered them much of a help with office noise. In my experience, they're great at cancelling white noise, but nothing else. IMHO headphones (including noise-cancelling) are a six-of-one, half-a-dozen of the other "solution" to office noise: they just trade once kid of audio distraction (office noise) for another (music or talk).
- _yb2s 4y ago
  Noise canceling headphones lower the noise floor, so the little bit of sound that still gets through is super noticeable. I’ve found playing a really quiet noise generator makes background voices totally disappear. The in ear versions of Bose headphones also work better than the over ear for voice frequencies.
- runevault 4y ago
  Were you just turning noise cancelling on or doing more? When I still had to go into an office I'd turn on no-vocals music to finish killing external sound.
  - tablespoon 4y ago
    > Were you just turning noise cancelling on or doing more? When I still had to go into an office I'd turn on no-vocals music to finish killing external sound. Just noise cancelling. Playing music is more distracting than office noise for me.
    - wenc 4y ago
      Try playing brown noise on top of noise canceling. It's more soothing than just pure noise, plus it masks intermittent uncanceled noises.
- kitsunesoba 4y ago
  AirPods Pro (the in-ear models) with music playing worked pretty well for me. Non-cancelling closed isolating like AKG K550 with music also weren't too bad. The key to the music not being distracting for me is the music being both familiar and of a particular nature. Stuff like trance, retrowave, and synthwave usually does the trick.
- dsq 4y ago
  I'm hopig that noise cancelling will improve to learn how to cancel voices, so that when hearing a coworker's grating voice or loud laughing you can prss a button "remember voice" and this will be recorded for future cancellation.

tablespoon 4y ago

> I would probably want this too. Noise-cancelling headphones help a lot to solve the audible noise problems of an open office... Really? I have noise-cancelling headphones (nice Bose ones), and I've never considered them much of a help with office noise. In my experience, they're great at cancelling white noise, but nothing else. IMHO headphones (including noise-cancelling) are a six-of-one, half-a-dozen of the other "solution" to office noise: they just trade once kid of audio distraction (office noise) for another (music or talk).

_yb2s 4y ago
Noise canceling headphones lower the noise floor, so the little bit of sound that still gets through is super noticeable. I’ve found playing a really quiet noise generator makes background voices totally disappear. The in ear versions of Bose headphones also work better than the over ear for voice frequencies.
runevault 4y ago
Were you just turning noise cancelling on or doing more? When I still had to go into an office I'd turn on no-vocals music to finish killing external sound.
- tablespoon 4y ago
  > Were you just turning noise cancelling on or doing more? When I still had to go into an office I'd turn on no-vocals music to finish killing external sound. Just noise cancelling. Playing music is more distracting than office noise for me.
  - wenc 4y ago
    Try playing brown noise on top of noise canceling. It's more soothing than just pure noise, plus it masks intermittent uncanceled noises.
kitsunesoba 4y ago
AirPods Pro (the in-ear models) with music playing worked pretty well for me. Non-cancelling closed isolating like AKG K550 with music also weren't too bad. The key to the music not being distracting for me is the music being both familiar and of a particular nature. Stuff like trance, retrowave, and synthwave usually does the trick.
dsq 4y ago
I'm hopig that noise cancelling will improve to learn how to cancel voices, so that when hearing a coworker's grating voice or loud laughing you can prss a button "remember voice" and this will be recorded for future cancellation.