9 ms·

This Is Your Brain on Silence

145 points by pmcpinto 12y ago

Dru89 12y ago
In our office, we have "Quiet Rooms." Many people go there to grab a fifteen to twenty minute nap, but I find myself going there when the noise just gets to be too much. I've found that many problems, even software problems, can be solved in a completely dark, quiet room. At the very least, it helps reduce stress levels and allows you to try to tackle the problem again when you get back with a fresh mind.
- epaladin 12y ago
  I've found the dark/quiet room to be useful for brainstorming in general. I've only actively utilized that tactic a couple of times though, I should try it more often. On those occasions I found that coming up with decent ideas seemed to be easier, just by sitting at a table with the lights off. Perhaps this allows the brain to let go of the world in front of you a little bit and lets the creative side take the foreground.
gregpilling 12y ago
I find that I need some quiet time everyday or I get irritable. An office with a solid door and insulated walls is at work, and I have a quiet room at home.
qzxvwt 12y ago
Who honestly couldn't foresee that sensory deprivation would be a luxury. We already have to pay to remove advertising from our lives.
- findjashua 12y ago
  Could you elaborate on paying to remove advertising? I don't think I've paid anything other than $5 donation to AdBlock.
  - saraid216 12y ago
    There are quite a few sites and apps that are "we will show you ads, unless you pay us, then we'll stop".
    - findjashua 12y ago
      apps, yes. But there are sites which manage to circumvent AdBlock? Any examples?
  - qzxvwt 12y ago
    Generally, on and off the web, media can be free as long as you're willing to let your experience be mediated by advertising to a degree. Your own private experiences can be devoid of ads, but private possessions usually cost money. For example in NYC, if you're taking the subway or bus, your visual landscape is bombarded with ads. If you pay for a cab you have less. If you buy your own car you aren't necessarily subjected to that beyond the billboards and signage you'd find on public roads. If you can afford to live in the Hamptons and take a helicopter to and from Manhattan, you have that much more control over your environment. But like you said, even Adblock isn't really free.
    - findjashua 12y ago
      Well, on the web, I'm looking at content, and the ads are just distracting and annoying. On the bus/subway, I don't find the ads that annoying. As for AdBlock, they don't actually charge you - you can get the extension for free. The donation is purely voluntary.
geekam 12y ago
You are fortunate if you have a quiet room or dark room at work. Even more if you have an office which reduces noise. Two of my biggest points when I try to find a job - * As small a commute as possible and hopefully public transportation availability (have achieved this time and again) * Place where I get an office, quiet room. (Have never achieved this)
- mbrock 12y ago
  Yeah. Or work remotely from places that respect the sublime power of silence, like certain public libraries, especially academic libraries. I think my love of silence is a big part of the whole foundation for my political and spiritual leanings. I loathe capitalism because it's noisy in all kinds of ways. And zazen, that speaks for itself. I know many Zen practitioners from Finland. They're all so lovely; I lack words. The whole aesthetic of Zen: lightning on a black sky; the moonshine reflecting in the lake; the far-off bird cry... It's all Finland. Compare all this to the typical open office. Why do we accept such painful environments? How can some people be so comfortable in full-time office jobs? It chafes on me like a hairshirt.
  - fossuser 12y ago
    Did you have any siblings close in age? Sometimes I wonder if that influences how people can handle commotion. I grew up with three little sisters close in age and between them and my mom literally nothing outside of that even registers as a blip on my radar. I also find that in very quiet environments I can get restless - all anecdotal, but made me wonder about it.
    - mbrock 12y ago
      Yeah, my older brother is also quite "sensitive." We had to take the first bus out of Vienna because he couldn't handle it; it made him nauseous. There was a lot of quiet in our household, and we're both moderately introverted.
  - geekam 12y ago
    > Or work remotely from places that respect the sublime power of silence, like certain public libraries, especially academic libraries True. I have been really trying to find a job that allows me to work remotely. I have an amazing setup at home, more like a sacred space but no job to use it for. > I know many Zen practitioners from Finland. How's the immigration of Finland? I might just move there. > Why do we accept such painful environments? Some of us really do not have a choice. > How can some people be so comfortable in full-time office jobs? Human beings do get used to and adjust in a new environment but I have seen the irritation in my colleagues and I know what's up with them. I believe it is the same thing as I have, just no private space which is crucial. Example: Someone at work lost their close family and we assume that it's all hunky-dory after we have offered condolences. But again, some of us just do not have a choice.
brightsize 12y ago
On several occasions I've been on solo backcountry hikes, stopped to rest, and realized that I could hear absolutely nothing. No wind. Not even bug-noise. Zero. It is truly sublime, transcendent, something entirely outside of ordinary human experience. Just typing this, laptop keys clicking, fan whirring, electrical timer creaking, crows squawking, the uncouth hollering of neighbors outside, cars rumbling in the distance, I am longing to experience such silence again.
- lutusp 12y ago
  Sometimes when I'm on my boat in Alaska, the wind dies and the water's surface becomes a mirror of the sky. It's absolutely silent. I realize what we miss living among people in towns and cities -- we're denied the pleasure of silence. The other time I experience this is when I cross Death Valley and camp on the unoccupied far side (an annual outing). There, also, the wind sometimes dies. But there, even the noises my boat makes are absent, as well as being a very beautiful environment: http://i.imgur.com/M6iQpyU.jpg http://i.imgur.com/M6iQpyU.jpg Silence -- like many things, you don't miss it until it's gone.
- macNchz 12y ago
  I swear by getting out into the wilderness as a means of disconnecting and finding a sort of deep, long-lasting relaxation. My trips aren't extreme, but we hike long enough to be worn out at the end of the day, and deep enough into the forest to escape the sounds of civilization, and the reaches of cell service. I've always loved backpacking, but the more connected I've become, the more important these trips have become to maintaining a sense of well being.
rch 12y ago
Having spent a bit of time in an anechoic chamber, I can say that true silence can be a powerful experience. There's a physical sensation of pressure being lifted, and intense feeling of focus (at least for me). I'd go well out of my way to hop in one again.
- anigbrowl 12y ago
  While it's not the same kind of silence, getting out into a desert is the next best thing. I did production sound for a film last year where we spent nearly a month out in the Mojave and the quiet environment more than made up for the extra physical challenges.
- Shinkei 12y ago
  I think it's worth mentioning that extreme absence of sound is not a condition that humans can tolerate. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2124581/The-worlds-quietest-place-chamber-Orfield-Laboratories.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2124581/The-w...
  - rch 12y ago
    Here's a video response^ by a guy who wanted to test this assertion. He spent about an hour in one at BYU, and seemed comfortable enough throughout. Interesting points: at around the 16 minute mark, he verbally estimates his time at 8 minutes; after the 45 min is up he asks for the lights to be turned on, and gets no response from the people outside the chamber. He calmly finds the door by using his cell phone as a light. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXVGIb3bzHI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXVGIb3bzHI
    - Shinkei 12y ago
      I am glad you sent me this video, but again the important part is that the test conditions are not the same as the original article. As much is mentioned in the video notes and comments... I do agree though that my source article is not exactly scientific, and it may be some kind of bias being introduced by the test participants.
noir_lord 12y ago
Silicon earplugs are sanity savers, I don't sleep without them as I have sleep problems. I also use them sometimes when I need to concentrate.
Eiriksmal 12y ago
> The cochlea converts physical vibrations into electrical signals that the brain receives. > The body reacts immediately and powerfully to these signals, even in the middle of deep sleep. ... > The activation prompts an immediate release of stress hormones like cortisol. > People who live in consistently loud environments often experience chronically elevated levels of stress hormones. This article got me thinking... what if I'm waking up feeling tired not because my mattress is aging and terrible, but because I moved from a quiet house to one that's 500 feet away from some train tracks? Even with a line of trees and other houses between the tracks and my bedroom, you can still hear the trains go thundering by, regardless of the time of day.
- plainOldText 12y ago
  Have you tried to sleep with earplugs on? Do you still wke up tired then? Also, I think the environment can have a much deeper impact on our health than most doctors like to admit. You could also wake up feeling tired as a result of changes in air quality (chemicals, mold, spores, wall paint, even furniture materials apparently). Here's an interesting collection of reads: http://readpiles.com/pile/Environmental-Illnesses,-Chemical-Sensitivity,-Allergies/94bac754-fe6c-4309-a0ca-e4e9a45b9acb http://readpiles.com/pile/Environmental-Illnesses,-Chemical-...
Throwaway1224 12y ago
I lived in Finland for six years. I speak the language fluently. :crickets:
BoppreH 12y ago
Great article, but I think I'm missing something. Several times through it I thought: "ok, but what about obvious explanation?". Examples: People who live in consistently loud environments often experience chronically elevated levels of stress hormones. But did they prove correlation or causation? To me most things that make noise also cause stress. Construction work makes lots of noise and changes your routine. A failing piece of hardware brings me technical headaches along with the noise. The article implies it's the noise itself that caused that. “In the absence of sound, the brain often tends to produce internal representations of sound.” When I think of a song, I can hear it in a very similar way to actual songs. Isn't this fairly well known? Same thing with the abrupt silence increasing attention. That seems... obvious? There seemed to be a type of background brain activity that was most visible, paradoxically, when the test subject was in a quiet room, doing absolutely nothing. First thing I would do is attribute this to the internal monologue, but I see no mention of that. When I'm by myself I'm definitely thinking harder than when listening to music. It's hard to actually do nothing, as people who meditate can tell you. Yet it's talked like it's entirely subconscious activity. I enjoyed reading this piece, and did learn a few things, but it frustrates me to no end when they gloss over stuff like this. Maybe they are not as obvious as I thought, or I missed something that clearly proves them wrong, but my feeling is that the article ignores common sense in a few spots.
- nyrulez 12y ago
  Correlation vs causation has sort of become a cultural trapdoor to all new claims. In reality, it is very hard to find the actual cause of many things we take for granted. Its often that the first event that sets off the chain of events is mentioned as the cause itself. Sometimes even if one doesn't know the mechanism, as long as you can reliably reproduce or predict the same, its seen as good enough for practical purposes, if not for textbook teaching. For example, not drinking water for a day tends to make me thirsty. Thats a correlation. Is it the cause? Not really. It just sets off a chain of events, which triggers dehydration, and eventually neuro chemical triggers of thirst somewhere in my brain centre.Even that centre is probably not well understood. But we still say "not drinking water causes thirst". it may be possible to mess with that circuitry to avoid these feelings. In fact a lot of neurological drugs prey on this fact. Causality is a very philosopical subject. But I would argue that for most practical purposes, reproducibility and predictability are often good enough to be useful, even if mechanism is currently unknown. See manipulation theories in causality (along with some intro on causality calculus) if you really want to dig deep into the beast known as causality.
neoterics 12y ago
Are there any studies that show the advantages of open space offices? I loathe them so much, constant distractions with people on the phone, clickyty clacks of tens of keyboards, people laughing & talking loudly etc. etc. How do people think that this open environment can be conducive to productivity? It just blows my mind. We see such studies all the time about silence, yet most companies (especially in the Bay Area) are moving towards the open space layout. Are they just incapable of rationally thinking about this and doing it just because it's the new and cool thing in town and others are doing it? I always end up being the most productive during holiday season (I wish our company gave us the option to work from home).
- devindotcom 12y ago
  Some people work better in those circumstances, believe it or not. I personally don't, but others do - they thrive on being in the midst of activity, are stimulated by it. Both types should be accommodated, I'd say, but it's hard to justify giving someone an office just because they prefer to be alone. Luckily working from home is an option, though, as you point out, not for everyone just yet. Strangely enough, I actually read very well when at a crowded bar. The background music and conversation, even if it's loud, sort of makes my brain focus on the book at hand, and I'm able to concentrate on it as well or better than I might have in a library reading room. Plus, you know, beer.
  - neovive 12y ago
    I think the people who work well in open office spaces are the same people that enjoy working for hours in busy coffee shops. Perhaps, a little of both (noisy and quiet) is ideal and forces you to practice focusing in both situations. The nature of the work is also a big factor. Personally, sometimes I find it harder to concentrate in total silence, but other times I look for quiet places to relax and read.
  - neoterics 12y ago
    Right, but even if the percentage of such a person is 50%, then you are only catering to half the crowd. I realize giving an office to everyone is not the best (or the most realistic) solution, but I think a compromise can be found, some parts of our office have these large cubes where 2 to 4 people can sit, this keeps you together with your team and makes for easy interaction/collaboration, but at the same time the high walls surrounding you keep the background auditory and visual distractions to a minimum, this way there is something for both the groups of people.

145 points by pmcpinto 12y ago

Dru89 12y ago

In our office, we have "Quiet Rooms." Many people go there to grab a fifteen to twenty minute nap, but I find myself going there when the noise just gets to be too much. I've found that many problems, even software problems, can be solved in a completely dark, quiet room. At the very least, it helps reduce stress levels and allows you to try to tackle the problem again when you get back with a fresh mind.

epaladin 12y ago
I've found the dark/quiet room to be useful for brainstorming in general. I've only actively utilized that tactic a couple of times though, I should try it more often. On those occasions I found that coming up with decent ideas seemed to be easier, just by sitting at a table with the lights off. Perhaps this allows the brain to let go of the world in front of you a little bit and lets the creative side take the foreground.

gregpilling 12y ago

I find that I need some quiet time everyday or I get irritable. An office with a solid door and insulated walls is at work, and I have a quiet room at home.

qzxvwt 12y ago

Who honestly couldn't foresee that sensory deprivation would be a luxury. We already have to pay to remove advertising from our lives.

findjashua 12y ago
Could you elaborate on paying to remove advertising? I don't think I've paid anything other than $5 donation to AdBlock.
- saraid216 12y ago
  There are quite a few sites and apps that are "we will show you ads, unless you pay us, then we'll stop".
  - findjashua 12y ago
    apps, yes. But there are sites which manage to circumvent AdBlock? Any examples?
- qzxvwt 12y ago
  Generally, on and off the web, media can be free as long as you're willing to let your experience be mediated by advertising to a degree. Your own private experiences can be devoid of ads, but private possessions usually cost money. For example in NYC, if you're taking the subway or bus, your visual landscape is bombarded with ads. If you pay for a cab you have less. If you buy your own car you aren't necessarily subjected to that beyond the billboards and signage you'd find on public roads. If you can afford to live in the Hamptons and take a helicopter to and from Manhattan, you have that much more control over your environment. But like you said, even Adblock isn't really free.
  - findjashua 12y ago
    Well, on the web, I'm looking at content, and the ads are just distracting and annoying. On the bus/subway, I don't find the ads that annoying. As for AdBlock, they don't actually charge you - you can get the extension for free. The donation is purely voluntary.

geekam 12y ago

You are fortunate if you have a quiet room or dark room at work. Even more if you have an office which reduces noise. Two of my biggest points when I try to find a job - * As small a commute as possible and hopefully public transportation availability (have achieved this time and again) * Place where I get an office, quiet room. (Have never achieved this)

mbrock 12y ago
Yeah. Or work remotely from places that respect the sublime power of silence, like certain public libraries, especially academic libraries. I think my love of silence is a big part of the whole foundation for my political and spiritual leanings. I loathe capitalism because it's noisy in all kinds of ways. And zazen, that speaks for itself. I know many Zen practitioners from Finland. They're all so lovely; I lack words. The whole aesthetic of Zen: lightning on a black sky; the moonshine reflecting in the lake; the far-off bird cry... It's all Finland. Compare all this to the typical open office. Why do we accept such painful environments? How can some people be so comfortable in full-time office jobs? It chafes on me like a hairshirt.
- fossuser 12y ago
  Did you have any siblings close in age? Sometimes I wonder if that influences how people can handle commotion. I grew up with three little sisters close in age and between them and my mom literally nothing outside of that even registers as a blip on my radar. I also find that in very quiet environments I can get restless - all anecdotal, but made me wonder about it.
  - mbrock 12y ago
    Yeah, my older brother is also quite "sensitive." We had to take the first bus out of Vienna because he couldn't handle it; it made him nauseous. There was a lot of quiet in our household, and we're both moderately introverted.
- geekam 12y ago
  > Or work remotely from places that respect the sublime power of silence, like certain public libraries, especially academic libraries True. I have been really trying to find a job that allows me to work remotely. I have an amazing setup at home, more like a sacred space but no job to use it for. > I know many Zen practitioners from Finland. How's the immigration of Finland? I might just move there. > Why do we accept such painful environments? Some of us really do not have a choice. > How can some people be so comfortable in full-time office jobs? Human beings do get used to and adjust in a new environment but I have seen the irritation in my colleagues and I know what's up with them. I believe it is the same thing as I have, just no private space which is crucial. Example: Someone at work lost their close family and we assume that it's all hunky-dory after we have offered condolences. But again, some of us just do not have a choice.

brightsize 12y ago

On several occasions I've been on solo backcountry hikes, stopped to rest, and realized that I could hear absolutely nothing. No wind. Not even bug-noise. Zero. It is truly sublime, transcendent, something entirely outside of ordinary human experience. Just typing this, laptop keys clicking, fan whirring, electrical timer creaking, crows squawking, the uncouth hollering of neighbors outside, cars rumbling in the distance, I am longing to experience such silence again.

lutusp 12y ago
Sometimes when I'm on my boat in Alaska, the wind dies and the water's surface becomes a mirror of the sky. It's absolutely silent. I realize what we miss living among people in towns and cities -- we're denied the pleasure of silence. The other time I experience this is when I cross Death Valley and camp on the unoccupied far side (an annual outing). There, also, the wind sometimes dies. But there, even the noises my boat makes are absent, as well as being a very beautiful environment: http://i.imgur.com/M6iQpyU.jpg http://i.imgur.com/M6iQpyU.jpg Silence -- like many things, you don't miss it until it's gone.
macNchz 12y ago
I swear by getting out into the wilderness as a means of disconnecting and finding a sort of deep, long-lasting relaxation. My trips aren't extreme, but we hike long enough to be worn out at the end of the day, and deep enough into the forest to escape the sounds of civilization, and the reaches of cell service. I've always loved backpacking, but the more connected I've become, the more important these trips have become to maintaining a sense of well being.

rch 12y ago

Having spent a bit of time in an anechoic chamber, I can say that true silence can be a powerful experience. There's a physical sensation of pressure being lifted, and intense feeling of focus (at least for me). I'd go well out of my way to hop in one again.

anigbrowl 12y ago
While it's not the same kind of silence, getting out into a desert is the next best thing. I did production sound for a film last year where we spent nearly a month out in the Mojave and the quiet environment more than made up for the extra physical challenges.
Shinkei 12y ago
I think it's worth mentioning that extreme absence of sound is not a condition that humans can tolerate. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2124581/The-worlds-quietest-place-chamber-Orfield-Laboratories.html http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2124581/The-w...
- rch 12y ago
  Here's a video response^ by a guy who wanted to test this assertion. He spent about an hour in one at BYU, and seemed comfortable enough throughout. Interesting points: at around the 16 minute mark, he verbally estimates his time at 8 minutes; after the 45 min is up he asks for the lights to be turned on, and gets no response from the people outside the chamber. He calmly finds the door by using his cell phone as a light. ^ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXVGIb3bzHI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mXVGIb3bzHI
  - Shinkei 12y ago
    I am glad you sent me this video, but again the important part is that the test conditions are not the same as the original article. As much is mentioned in the video notes and comments... I do agree though that my source article is not exactly scientific, and it may be some kind of bias being introduced by the test participants.

noir_lord 12y ago

Silicon earplugs are sanity savers, I don't sleep without them as I have sleep problems. I also use them sometimes when I need to concentrate.

Eiriksmal 12y ago

> The cochlea converts physical vibrations into electrical signals that the brain receives. > The body reacts immediately and powerfully to these signals, even in the middle of deep sleep. ... > The activation prompts an immediate release of stress hormones like cortisol. > People who live in consistently loud environments often experience chronically elevated levels of stress hormones. This article got me thinking... what if I'm waking up feeling tired not because my mattress is aging and terrible, but because I moved from a quiet house to one that's 500 feet away from some train tracks? Even with a line of trees and other houses between the tracks and my bedroom, you can still hear the trains go thundering by, regardless of the time of day.

plainOldText 12y ago
Have you tried to sleep with earplugs on? Do you still wke up tired then? Also, I think the environment can have a much deeper impact on our health than most doctors like to admit. You could also wake up feeling tired as a result of changes in air quality (chemicals, mold, spores, wall paint, even furniture materials apparently). Here's an interesting collection of reads: http://readpiles.com/pile/Environmental-Illnesses,-Chemical-Sensitivity,-Allergies/94bac754-fe6c-4309-a0ca-e4e9a45b9acb http://readpiles.com/pile/Environmental-Illnesses,-Chemical-...

Throwaway1224 12y ago

I lived in Finland for six years. I speak the language fluently. :crickets:

BoppreH 12y ago

Great article, but I think I'm missing something. Several times through it I thought: "ok, but what about obvious explanation?". Examples: People who live in consistently loud environments often experience chronically elevated levels of stress hormones. But did they prove correlation or causation? To me most things that make noise also cause stress. Construction work makes lots of noise and changes your routine. A failing piece of hardware brings me technical headaches along with the noise. The article implies it's the noise itself that caused that. “In the absence of sound, the brain often tends to produce internal representations of sound.” When I think of a song, I can hear it in a very similar way to actual songs. Isn't this fairly well known? Same thing with the abrupt silence increasing attention. That seems... obvious? There seemed to be a type of background brain activity that was most visible, paradoxically, when the test subject was in a quiet room, doing absolutely nothing. First thing I would do is attribute this to the internal monologue, but I see no mention of that. When I'm by myself I'm definitely thinking harder than when listening to music. It's hard to actually do nothing, as people who meditate can tell you. Yet it's talked like it's entirely subconscious activity. I enjoyed reading this piece, and did learn a few things, but it frustrates me to no end when they gloss over stuff like this. Maybe they are not as obvious as I thought, or I missed something that clearly proves them wrong, but my feeling is that the article ignores common sense in a few spots.

nyrulez 12y ago
Correlation vs causation has sort of become a cultural trapdoor to all new claims. In reality, it is very hard to find the actual cause of many things we take for granted. Its often that the first event that sets off the chain of events is mentioned as the cause itself. Sometimes even if one doesn't know the mechanism, as long as you can reliably reproduce or predict the same, its seen as good enough for practical purposes, if not for textbook teaching. For example, not drinking water for a day tends to make me thirsty. Thats a correlation. Is it the cause? Not really. It just sets off a chain of events, which triggers dehydration, and eventually neuro chemical triggers of thirst somewhere in my brain centre.Even that centre is probably not well understood. But we still say "not drinking water causes thirst". it may be possible to mess with that circuitry to avoid these feelings. In fact a lot of neurological drugs prey on this fact. Causality is a very philosopical subject. But I would argue that for most practical purposes, reproducibility and predictability are often good enough to be useful, even if mechanism is currently unknown. See manipulation theories in causality (along with some intro on causality calculus) if you really want to dig deep into the beast known as causality.

neoterics 12y ago

Are there any studies that show the advantages of open space offices? I loathe them so much, constant distractions with people on the phone, clickyty clacks of tens of keyboards, people laughing & talking loudly etc. etc. How do people think that this open environment can be conducive to productivity? It just blows my mind. We see such studies all the time about silence, yet most companies (especially in the Bay Area) are moving towards the open space layout. Are they just incapable of rationally thinking about this and doing it just because it's the new and cool thing in town and others are doing it? I always end up being the most productive during holiday season (I wish our company gave us the option to work from home).

devindotcom 12y ago
Some people work better in those circumstances, believe it or not. I personally don't, but others do - they thrive on being in the midst of activity, are stimulated by it. Both types should be accommodated, I'd say, but it's hard to justify giving someone an office just because they prefer to be alone. Luckily working from home is an option, though, as you point out, not for everyone just yet. Strangely enough, I actually read very well when at a crowded bar. The background music and conversation, even if it's loud, sort of makes my brain focus on the book at hand, and I'm able to concentrate on it as well or better than I might have in a library reading room. Plus, you know, beer.
- neovive 12y ago
  I think the people who work well in open office spaces are the same people that enjoy working for hours in busy coffee shops. Perhaps, a little of both (noisy and quiet) is ideal and forces you to practice focusing in both situations. The nature of the work is also a big factor. Personally, sometimes I find it harder to concentrate in total silence, but other times I look for quiet places to relax and read.
- neoterics 12y ago
  Right, but even if the percentage of such a person is 50%, then you are only catering to half the crowd. I realize giving an office to everyone is not the best (or the most realistic) solution, but I think a compromise can be found, some parts of our office have these large cubes where 2 to 4 people can sit, this keeps you together with your team and makes for easy interaction/collaboration, but at the same time the high walls surrounding you keep the background auditory and visual distractions to a minimum, this way there is something for both the groups of people.