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An interesting development of open floor plans is the addition of white noise to reduce distraction. Has anyone seen this used at their office? >>sound is cont

by tswartz 12y ago

An interesting development of open floor plans is the addition of white noise to reduce distraction. Has anyone seen this used at their office? >>sound is controlled with dividing walls and “pink noise”—white noise focused on the frequencies of human speech, which can reduce the distance at which a conversation is audible from 50 feet to 12-16 feet. The result, the firm says, is greater focus, accuracy and short-term memory.

lstamour 12y ago
Well, I tried it just now from my computer ... e.g. playnoise.com or https://github.com/PatrickStankard/ShutUpAndJam.js https://github.com/PatrickStankard/ShutUpAndJam.js It sounded like a nicer "fan" ... very consistent. I think for it to be effective, you'd want to direct it to bounce off cube or glass walls between you and the speaker. If it's loud enough, without walls, it might prevent conversation, hindering productivity for co-workers.
blackaspen 12y ago
We tried them where I work. Our office is probably a 75 person open office. No one liked them (I believe we tried two vendors, not sure which). I felt that they were a little too intrusive -- when it was quiet you still wanted to put your headphones on.
Pyrodogg 12y ago
I worked for about 6 months before one day there was an emergency announcement over the PA. Before the voice actually came on, the white noise generator cut out and it was weird. I had always assumed it was a noisy air duct. What you trade off is absolute sound level for attenuating speech like noises faster than they would naturally. So going from nothing to white noise is going to sound and feel noisier. But you will find that you can't hear people talking across the room as well as you could when it was quieter. I consider it a net positive. But then again I also wear headphones frequently to listen to music for focus (and to drown out everything).

by tswartz 12y ago

lstamour 12y ago

Well, I tried it just now from my computer ... e.g. playnoise.com or https://github.com/PatrickStankard/ShutUpAndJam.js https://github.com/PatrickStankard/ShutUpAndJam.js It sounded like a nicer "fan" ... very consistent. I think for it to be effective, you'd want to direct it to bounce off cube or glass walls between you and the speaker. If it's loud enough, without walls, it might prevent conversation, hindering productivity for co-workers.

blackaspen 12y ago

We tried them where I work. Our office is probably a 75 person open office. No one liked them (I believe we tried two vendors, not sure which). I felt that they were a little too intrusive -- when it was quiet you still wanted to put your headphones on.

Pyrodogg 12y ago

I worked for about 6 months before one day there was an emergency announcement over the PA. Before the voice actually came on, the white noise generator cut out and it was weird. I had always assumed it was a noisy air duct. What you trade off is absolute sound level for attenuating speech like noises faster than they would naturally. So going from nothing to white noise is going to sound and feel noisier. But you will find that you can't hear people talking across the room as well as you could when it was quieter. I consider it a net positive. But then again I also wear headphones frequently to listen to music for focus (and to drown out everything).