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I work in a shared office with 3 other people (described by my boss at the time as a "bullpen". Lots of chatter, people coming in and out, other employees comin
by Magi604 4y ago
I work in a shared office with 3 other people (described by my boss at the time as a "bullpen". Lots of chatter, people coming in and out, other employees coming in for whatever...it is definitely distracting.
My solution to this was to listen to "brown noise" on my over-ear headphones while I was in there trying to work. Then I remembered my ancient Gear Iconx Samsung bluetooth earbuds had built-in storage. I loaded a 20 loop of brown noise in there so I don't have to tether it to my phone all the time and I started using that.
It really does make a difference in terms of focusing and getting things done. Even random mumblings from my office mates, hallways conversations etc. don't distract me.
- sneak 4y agoThis seems like a very good solution to the wrong problem. Sometimes treating the symptoms is the right move, but oftentimes it is not. Local maxima.
- Magi604 4y agoI hear ya, I'd rather not be working there and I do find excuses to work off site when I can (sadly a large portion of my role needs me in the facility). I'm working on it.
- nntwozz 4y agoJust kill me now.
- imhoguy 4y agoHm, can it have some health implications? Ears covered all the time plus constant sound.
- kitsune_ 4y agoDefinitely, most people using noise to treat a noise problem will sooner or later get tinnitus and hearing loss if they do this constantly over years. Btw, I have tinnitus, it's not fun. Protect your ears people.
- Magi604 4y agoIt's all about the volume. I'm not listening at a high volume since the brown noise does a great job of blocking out all sounds. It's actually quite soothing, kind of like a waterfall. Discussion about it from a few months back, from a NYT article. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32998960 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32998960 I'm not worried.