
Just Wear Headphones - strangetimes
http://www.mattblodgett.com/2015/06/just-wear-headphones.html
======
darylteo
The "being watched" feeling is the big one for me. I don't mind wearing
headphones because I love listening to music and I don't listen to it that
loudly, but the sensation of feeling someone's eyes on you (to catch you on
the split second you've refreshed reddit or facebook or something) is
incredibly profound on the time it takes to zone into zen mode.

Anecdotally funnily enough, the opposite seems to happen for me when I am pair
programming: each person keeps the other in focus, but obviously this only
works when both people have the same objective. Not really related to "open
office" issue, but thought it was relevant.

Or maybe I'm just a filthy procrastinator...

~~~
smcg
I don't like having people watching me, but facing other people (just having
them in my field of view) is even more distracting.

~~~
flanbiscuit
this bothers me too. I make sure my monitor is high enough so I can't easily
see their eyes.

------
hoggle
At age 32 my hearing is apparently at the level of a 66 year old. I'm not much
of a concert attender nor drug user so the only real explanation the doctor
could give for my disappointing audiogram was my habit of regularly working
with headphones on (I always took care of moderate volume, mind you).

I wasn't expecting this result at all, I actually thought my hearing was
perfect but hearing loss starts at the highest frequencies and continues to
the lower frequencies exponentially. The route towards "Sorry, what did you
say?" doesn't take as long as you might suspect.

~~~
dominotw
Thats crazy, I am sorry. Is the hearing loss irreversible ?

~~~
paublyrne
Hearing loss is indeed irreversible.

So take good care of your ears, don't be complacent. (I'm a drummer)

~~~
duderific
Also a drummer here...for several years I played in extremely loud bands and
went to shows without earplugs. By the time I wised up it was too late. Now I
have a terrible time hearing conversations in restaurants or other situations
where there is background noise. I imagine in my later years I'll probably
need hearing aids.

------
gcv
The rules of thumb about "60% of maximum volume for 60 minutes" and "if you
can't hear your surroundings, it's too loud" are nonsense. Dangerous volume
settings depend on a headphone's sensitivity, the output device power, the
headphone's isolation ability, and the recording. These parameters vary.
Wildly.

A well-fitting isolating IEM can slice off 25dB of noise, more than enough to
(mostly) eliminate background conversation noise at any location short of a
hip restaurant. These IEMs tend to be so sensitive that they become
earsplitting at a tiny fraction of the maximum output volume, way less than
60%.

Learn approximate dB levels of various sounds, compare various noise with a
meter (even an uncalibrated app will give you a ballpark idea of what you're
dealing with), and listen to music at an average 65dB or less (this will
obviously vary with dynamic range of your music; occasional 80-85dB peaks
won't kill your hearing).

One trip to a dance club or rock concert without earplugs (100-110dB on
average in my experience, 120+ has been known to happen) will do more hearing
damage in a few minutes than a _lot_ of headphone listening while working. I'm
pretty sure the busy street near my home routinely hits a 90dB average at rush
hour, solidly in the danger zone compared to reasonable headphone use.

 _Edit:_ To learn more, read the following:

\-
[http://www.rane.com/pdf/old/note100.pdf](http://www.rane.com/pdf/old/note100.pdf)

\- [http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/09/more-
power.html](http://nwavguy.blogspot.com/2011/09/more-power.html)

~~~
calpaterson
It might be helpful if you could offer citations for that. I find it hard to
judge these competing claims

~~~
BFay
None of that comment seemed unreasonable to me - I've had large over-ear sets
of headphones that require me to turn the volume up pretty high. It takes more
to drive them, that's why some people own headphone amps.

Compare that to IEM's like the Sennheiser cx 300 - 5% of max volume at my
computer might be too loud.

And it would surprise me if headphone usage at reasonable volumes is worse
than going to loud concerts, even if you use headphones for long periods of
time. If I'm at a concert or a loud bar for an hour or two, my ears feel
really fatigued afterwards, everything seems quieter. I've never turned up
headphones loud enough to experience that.

~~~
seanp2k2
If anyone is curious, this is what the sensitivity measurement is on
headphones:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headphones#Sensitivity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headphones#Sensitivity)

TL;DR "The sensitivity of headphones is usually between about 80 and 125 dB/mW
and usually measured at 1 kHz." and note that since dB is logarithmic, every
6dB is 2x the energy (human-perceived "doubling of volume" is typically ~10dB;
see also:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fletcher%E2%80%93Munson_curves](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fletcher%E2%80%93Munson_curves)
)

------
chrisbennet
I'm not sure that employers that have open plan offices are actually
"clueless". It apparently works well enough that they don't mind the
productively hit. I think it is easier for developers to believe that their
employers are clueless than to believe the truth - that they've weighed that
costs and decided that disrespecting developers is worth the cost savings.

The open plan office sends the message: "To us, you're not a thinker [we have
management for that!], you're just an expensive typist." The exception to that
would be an startup that is forthright about needing the cost savings and
doesn't try to sell this lack of respect as a "feature" (ease of
collaboration!).

~~~
s73v3r
So you're saying it's even worse than them being clueless?

~~~
chrisbennet
Yes.

------
geebee
Is it time to get depressed yet? This has been a topic for such a long time.
It was in people ware in 1987. I thought I discovered the topic when Joel (On
Sofware) wrote about it in 2000. While a few people seem to enjoy open
offices, the overwhelming majority of developers I know, or who chime in on
HN, value a quiet place to work and dislike open offices.

And yet, not only has nothing changed, it seems to be getting worse. It
couldn't be more clear to me that developers, at least on this issue, simply
have no clout _as a profession_. There may be a few individuals who can make
demands, but on the balance, these are decisions imposed on us, as a group,
and we are apparently unable to do anything about it.

The really sad thing is, this isn't a situation where we're asking to fly
first class, or for more vacation. We're talking about asking for something
that will make us more productive and increase the value we largely hand over
to our employers, simply because it's depressing to not be able to do a good
job due to distractions.

So yeah, I'm depressed about it. There was a time when I read these essays and
felt a bit more charged up, like people were starting to understand something
important and that things would change. Well, now we have open offices.

I'll finish with another variant on my broken record: the industry talks
constant about the critical shortage of software engineers, but it won't give
them a quiet place to work. Actually, that last sentence is too optimistic -
it won't _allow_ them a quiet place to work. Those places exist, but companies
often demand that their programmers spend 8 hours a day in places that are too
noisy for focus.

~~~
lurkinggrue
I suggest perhaps a fetal position desk:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYSxkqL9l_8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYSxkqL9l_8)

------
AdamN
I used to use construction 'headphones'. They do nothing but dampen outside
noise - no music. It's a pretty good solution ... but a solution to a stupid
problem because the right solution is more productive working conditions.

~~~
harryf
> the right solution is more productive working conditions

Absolutely! To me what's most disturbing about "Just use headphones" is it's
highly prevalent information-age companies but shows a deep _lack_ of
understanding for the need for _focus_ and long periods of uninterrupted
concentration essential for creative work.

~~~
andyv133
Its not just information age companies, it seems to me that many people in
general are ignorant of the concept that a distraction-free work environment
is important. I'm at a company that has been around for 50 years, and they
still stuff their engineers two at a time into small "offices" (without doors,
with concrete floors). I can hear _everything_.

------
kmfrk
Another seemingly imperceptible disruption is vibration, ie "physical noise".
I had the bottom-of-the-totem-pole pleasure of having the (open) office space
right by the restroom, kitchen, and coffee machine.

The major noises were not the main problem; the problem was the stress of
people beelining for either of the three with the felicity of an elephant
stampede.

Add to this office congestion the pleasure of a female stampede of high heels
or male Italian shoes.

Which is not to say that a coffee machine can't shake the foundation of the
building like a malcontent washing machine.

It's driven me up the fucking wall, and it is by far my biggest annoyance with
an open office.

Keep this in mind, the next time you or someone else goes on about dress code
- or taking things easy. Hell, give your employees the option of company-
provided sneakers. Then you can still dictate style guidelines.

Either that or give people a goddamn vibration-dampened fastlane.

~~~
chrisbennet
When I hear something like this, it sound like your pleading for _padded_
shackles. My heart goes out to you.

A friend of mine worked at a place where he was next to metal door to the
outside that slammed shut loudly all day. He wore those big industrial
earmuffs to try to block it out. This is the Phd physicist/developer who did
all the hard math for them...

To my developer brethren (and sisters!), work doesn't have to be like that.
There are companies that treat their developers well. You _really_ need to
interview the company during the job interview, talk to people that work there
before you go, do your research.

------
wcunning
As several commentors have mentioned, in ear monitor (IEM) type headphones
have pretty good sound isolation properties. It's important to note that
active noise cancelling (ANC) headphones _increase_ the total sound pressure
on your ear drums, while IEMs _decrease_ it, overall. With ANC headphones, you
have the environmental sound pressure added to the cancellation signal (which
cancels according to perception, not according to physics) added to the
pressure of your music. This tends to make them far more damaging to hearing,
long term, than simply listening to music. The real solution, if you want to
avoid hearing loss and drown out the environmental noise is to use something
like Shure IEMs and a pair of shooting or industrial earmuffs. When I ran a
lawn service in high school, I had a set of Shure headphones and equipment
earmuffs, which blocked something like 50 dB of environmental noise and let me
listen to podcasts at a reasonable volume while running a mower 8 hours a day.

~~~
metafunctor
Do you have a reference for ANC headphones being more likely to cause hearing
loss compared to regular headphones? I find it hard to believe (but would love
to stand corrected).

~~~
wcunning
So, upon further reading, I was less informed on that than I had thought. The
best explanation I could find is here[1]. Basically, ANC does reduce sound
pressure level when it lines up correctly. If you're listening to the sort of
ambient noise that it does well with, it gets the phase offset close enough to
right to significantly reduce the mechanical force applied to your ear drums.
If, on the other hand, you're in an environment where it does a mediocre job,
it will still be producing a cancellation waveform, but it won't actually
cancel anything, and that will increase the mechanical force applied to your
ear drums. So, in an office environment, you'd expect a reduction from the
ambient noise of the HVAC system, but an increase from the random nature of
your coworkers' conversations. It's hard to say whether you'd have a net
reduction or not, but it's not certain, whereas passive noise isolation is
certain.

[1]
[http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1ios4u/does_prod...](http://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/1ios4u/does_producing_antinoise_double_the_amount_of/cb6li32)

------
jdietrich
Use noise-attenuating headphones rather than noise-cancelling headphones. A
pair of properly fitted IEMs or a good pair of closed headphones will reduce
background noise by ~25dB simply by providing a physical barrier to noise.

The distracting effects of music largely disappear if you listen to repetitive
instrumental music - house or ambient music is ideal for this.

If you're concerned about noise-related hearing loss, Canford produce a range
of high-quality headphones with integrated limiters. The limiting system was
designed by the BBC, to enforce safe noise exposure for employees who use
headphones all day.

While I agree that open plan offices are generally a bad idea, I think that OP
is rather uninformed about the use of headphones.

~~~
yellowapple
To build on your second point, the key is more "instrumental" than "house or
ambient", though combining both is indeed ideal. Soma.fm's "Groove Salad"
online radio station is a good example of such music.

------
GBond
I hope the open office trend dies soon. I've been to some swanky open offices
with awesome perks but there are all designed to keep you in the office. I
would not trade any of it for my current setup. I work from my home office and
travel to a nearby coworking space to get an occasional dose of water-cooler
level of human interaction.

~~~
wwweston
The problem is that it meets managerial needs very well:

* awareness -- you can see who's there, what they're doing, and have kindof a feel of the tempo of the office

* "collaborative" \-- managerial work is mostly meetings, it's easy to see conversation/crosstalk as productivity

* less furniture / divided space is probably cost efficient

Add that to the This Is How We Do Things Now(TM) cultural momentum (you don't
want to be using cubes like those stale corporations of the 90s, do you?).
Then throw in the idea that management doesn't necessarily want employees to
be maximally productive; it's better if they're productive enough but pliable
and fungible.

Open plan might well be with us for a while.

------
masklinn
> Physical Hearing Damage

That's the one that does me in. Not because headphones cause ongoing damage,
but because my ears have been damaged by several rounds of tympanic
perforations and ear infections since I was a wee one.

From these I retain (amongst a number of other issues though thankfully almost
no loss of hearing) a serious inability to wear any kind of headphones for
more than 10~15mn: past that and it starts to feel like I'm getting needles
jabbed through the eardrum and scraping around (this is not so exaggerated,
the first time it happened I literally threw my cans away from me thinking
some sort of biting insect had gone in and I hadn't felt it until it took a
bite of my eardrum)

------
vtlynch
Interesting question: How many companies who use open offices style floorplans
have executives who still have their own offices?

Maybe this is just another permutation of the out of touch boss problem.
Nothing makes it harder to understand the downfalls of an open office than not
working in one yourself.

~~~
Gonzih
There is another problem here. Most executives are extroverts, so for them
being in the environment like that feels right and good. Does not really help
with understanding in my experience.

~~~
kqr
Also might matter that open floor plans make interacting with people
convenient, and it's a large part of their job to interact with people. I
really only need interaction with people for well under 10% of a normal work
day.

What makes perfect sense for their kind of works does not make as much sense
for my kind of work.

~~~
binxbolling
For me it makes interacting with people even more inconvenient. Now instead of
having a conversation with one person, I'm effectively having one with a dozen
or more. So everyone's booking entire conference rooms just to talk 1:1—even
if the topic is fairly benign or banal, nobody likes eavesdroppers.

~~~
lurkinggrue
Just love it when people comment on phone calls you just had.

I found myself having conversations with family members where I never
mentioned words that would give away what I was talking about.

What drive me even crazier is co workers that took an almost insane interest
in what I was eating for lunch.

Yeah, it's a fucking big mac... have you never seen one before?

~~~
Gonzih
Why would you even pick up your phone without leaving the room or trying to
find some quiet space? I'm trying to keep my private conversetations outside
of my work environment, not because I don't want people to hear things, but
because it can annoy/distract people around me.

~~~
lurkinggrue
I couldn't always predict when a call would come in over something and the
only "quiet" space available is out in my car. It wasn't always a good option
but I would go out there if I had to call someplace about a bill.

I was mostly surrounded by customer phone support people so I doubt I was
distracting them.

------
mcculley
I'm convinced that the ideal layout for developers is single offices, with
doors, big enough for pair programming. Anything else is wasting developer
attention and the opportunities for collaboration enabled while being in close
proximity.

~~~
Someone1234
The problem with "real" micro-offices is that a lot of SMBs don't own the
physical property, and instead they rent. These properties often have drop
ceilings, so even if the "walls" of the office(s) hit the ceiling, sound would
still very easily travel up and over (and removing the drop ceilings is
expensive/hard).

Companies had an alternative: Cubicles.

They were modular, relatively inexpensive, and gave the experience of an
office but without needing building work or cooperation with the landlord. But
people "hated" those and companies that utilised them were seen as dinosaurs
(see the movie Office Space). Then a few companies did open plan, and every
said they were young, forward thinking, and trendy so of course a bunch of
companies are going to follow suit...

Ultimately micro-offices would be wonderful, but they have practical and cost
problems. Plus let us not forget fire codes. That alone can dictate how an
office will be laid out (so fire exits are visible, etc).

~~~
jdavis703
Wouldn't micro offices block out natural light? I know many developers thrive
in the dark, but I can not work without sunlight for long. Even with vitamin D
supplements I start feeling lethargic and mentally down, which has major
performance implications for both how I interact with coworkers, my creativity
and how much I can get done. Surely I'm not the only person who experiences
this?

~~~
mikeryan
So the co-working Space Wework uses glass dividers for their offices to allow
for interior offices with natural light

Didn't find great pics but here's a GIS
[https://www.google.com/search?q=We+Work+Offices&espv=2&biw=1...](https://www.google.com/search?q=We+Work+Offices&espv=2&biw=1152&bih=1211&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ei=OjmIVeXlKILjoASo06bQDQ&ved=0CAcQ_AUoAg&dpr=1)

~~~
mcguire
Mmm, fishbowls.

------
MetaCosm
I HATE open offices, but man is this article full of absolute nonsense. I mean
that in a very literal way -- it has lots of stuff that can not be made sense
of because it lacks context or any actual meaning.

> I stress to my patients and the parents of my patients that if you can’t
> hear anything going on around you when listening to headphones, the decibel
> level is too high.

This is just stupid. It ignores type of headphone entirely. IEMs like the
ER-4P
([https://www.etymotic.com/consumer/earphones/er4.html](https://www.etymotic.com/consumer/earphones/er4.html))
have insane noise isolation (up to 42 dB). When using them, I can't hear
someone talking to me, standing right next to me, with no music! They physical
block the ear canal and create a seal blocking outside noise.

> As a rule of thumb, you should only use [personal audio] devices at levels
> up to 60% of maximum volume for a total of 60 minutes a day. The louder the
> volume, the shorter your duration should be. At maximum volume, you should
> listen for only about five minutes a day.

Again, idiotic. "60%" is entirely meaningless. It might as well be "Don't
listen above FALASFDABURAGA". Headphones vary in sensitivity vastly, on some
sets of IEMs -- 60% would be ear bleeding, deafeningly, painfully loud. On a
high impedance, low sensitivity set of big headphones, 60% is a whisper. As a
"rule of thumb" all it does is reinforce that the person who gave that quote
is an idiot.

> If you listen to music with earbuds or headphones at levels that block out
> normal discourse, you are in effect dealing lethal blows to the hair cells
> in your ears.

... again, quotes from people who have no understanding that there are
different types of headphones. MAYBE you could claim with fully open
headphones this to be the case... but what is the level of "discourse"...
_sigh_. Again, literally nonsense because it is impossible to make sense of...

> ... Music Is Distracting (entire section) ...

There exists multiple categories of music WITHOUT WORDS! Shocking I know. Most
developers I know listen to these types of music because, lyrics are
distracting. That isn't a cut against headphones.

> ... Feeling of Vulnerability ...

Getting to some sad points. Again, I hate open office plans, but come on --
really -- the feeling of vulnerability being caused by headphones? It is
caused by an open office layout.

~~~
bryanlarsen
"This is just stupid. It ignores type of headphone entirely. "

It sounds pretty smart to me. What else is the doctor supposed to do? Until
the silly Beats craze took off, one could have made a statement like that and
it would have been accurate for >99% of headphones users. Assuming that the
user is listening to the pack-in IEMs (or IEMs with a very similar profile)
plugged into a phone or iPod would have been a safe assumption. Sure, an
office full of tech geeks won't match, but for the general population of
headphone wearers?

And if your phones are more or less sensitive, comparing against pack-in IEMs
into an iPod or phone is probably the best way that consumers have of
comparing levels.

There probably was such a statement in the original source, but it was
probably (rightfully) dropped by the reporters because it would have just
confused people

"There exists multiple categories of music WITHOUT WORDS!"

I find such music is also very distracting. I find good symphonic music much
more interesting than boring Pop music. Interesting -> distracting.

" the feeling of vulnerability being caused by headphones? It is caused by an
open office layout."

IMO, the feeling of vulnerability is caused by the combination of headphones
and open layout. Normally you can tell people are behind you because you hear
them. If you can't hear them, then you get freaked out and feel vulnerable.

~~~
yellowapple
> I find such music is also very distracting. I find good symphonic music much
> more interesting than boring Pop music. Interesting -> distracting.

So find some boring (or at least repetetive/uninteresting) instrumental music.

~~~
bryanlarsen
I'd rather immerse myself in hot oil.

------
melindajb
As someone with a life long case of VERY serious, diagnosed, and treated ADHD,
one that is exacerbated by noise (I also have an auditory processing
disorder); I often feel I have to take myself out of the running for any job
in an open plan office.

Theoretically the Americans with Disabilities Act would allow me to ask for
accommodation for this. Practically speaking, my coaches tell me never to ask
for it, as employers don't get it and think you're making excuses.

But the fact is, I do have a disability and it's the cognitive equivalent of
asking a person in a wheelchair to use steps to get to work.

And as an introvert, I find offices exhausting, the constant demand to be "On"
is not only distracting but productivity limiting--especially pointless
meetings where I have to work very hard to manage my limited attention span.

Yet another example of how silicon valley culture works for a tiny sliver of
the population.

working from home is the best solution. I never go to a coffee shop--even that
is too distracting. I schedule meetings with clients in chunks of time that
are better for me (afternoons vs my very precious productive mornings) and I
batch them so I'm not constantly context switching.

PS I'm not a developer--so you devs aren't the only ones suffering! Good
writing and marketing needs thinking time too!

------
tezza

      "[Noise Cancelling Headphones] So while it may work to cancel the noise
      of your office air conditioner, it’s powerless against the voices of your co-workers
      (the real noise you’d want to cancel in an office environment)."
    

Um, this doesn't match my experience at all. My Bose noise cancelling
headphones[1] are really effective at cancelling conversations.

Not completely cancelling mind you, but All-But-Cancelling.

You are playing music then too which further removes the voices, and you can
play at a much lower volume for similar block-out-effects.

This does lead to some hilarious Boss-at-Shoulder moments when they have come
to get your attention.

[1] [https://www.bose.co.uk/GB/en/home-and-personal-
audio/headpho...](https://www.bose.co.uk/GB/en/home-and-personal-
audio/headphones-and-headsets/acoustic-noise-cancelling-
headphones/quietcomfort-20-headphones-apple/)

~~~
mondoshawan
Still not a replacement for silence. Do you find your ears becoming fatigued
over the day?

~~~
emerongi
I have the same model (QC20i). Ears do not get fatigued. Impressive technology
to be honest, didn't think they were that effective before I used them. I do
agree that it's not a solution, but probably the best way to adapt.

------
Raphmedia
Wear earplugs and then put your over the ears headphones over them. The sound
of your music should still get through (mostly from around the ear, through
your skull). I do that with classical music and it makes the music sounds like
it's coming from very far. It's very zen. Like sitting in the void while
having music come to you from a distant area.

~~~
oneeyedpigeon
You shouldn't be using earplugs, though - I take it you're talking about
something you actually put inside your ear. If you ask your doctor, they'll
tell you never to put anything in your ear that's smaller than your elbow (I
think it's an in-joke in the medical profession ;-)

~~~
dpark
> _If you ask your doctor, they 'll tell you never to put anything in your ear
> that's smaller than your elbow_

I'm pretty sure doctors in general are not opposed to the use of earplugs.
Doctors don't want you putting things like Q-Tips into your ears, because it's
really easy to irritate the ear canal or worse accidentally puncture your ear
drum. Ear plugs don't carry much risk (no chance of hitting the ear drum
unless you're shoving them in with a stick, and should be gentle enough on the
ear canal), and they are a very good idea if you're going to be exposed to
loud noises. Good ear plugs can block as much noise as good earmuffs.

Doctors themselves (or their technicians) will put earplugs into your ears if
they need to block noise, e.g., for an MRI or a hearing test.

~~~
Raphmedia
That being said, the cheap cylindrical ones will get stuck in your ear canal
if pushed too far.

------
zamalek
> Side Note: Noise-Cancelling Headphones

What I've seen done by e-sports events such as WCS is to use earphones _in
combination_ with mufflers[1] to cut out the live spectator noise - yes the
ones they use on a rifle range.

I can vouch that such a solution works as my room mate in residence would
watch series up until ungodly hours of the morning: wearing no-name rifle
range ear mufflers eliminated enough (broad-spectrum) noise to allow me to
sleep with no issues whatsoever; I would assume it would cut out enough noise
for concentration (given that they go as far as reducing the sounds of _gun
fire_ ) - even without adding music to the equation.

[1]:
[http://catalogue.3m.eu/en_ZA/PPESafetyProducts/Ear_Plugs_and...](http://catalogue.3m.eu/en_ZA/PPESafetyProducts/Ear_Plugs_and_Ear_Muffs/Passive_Ear_Muffs/Peltor%E2%84%A2~Optime%E2%84%A2_III~Ear_Muffs~nocode)
\- this specific model is frequently seen in WCS.

~~~
SixSigma
Noise Reduction technology works great.

I use my Sony Walkman with noise reduction and no music to calm down my
environment.

------
kstenerud
"There are permanent physical consequences from prolonged headphone use. The
effects accrue gradually, and as such people don’t notice that it’s
happening."

You don't have to actually drown out the ambient noise; you just have to put
enough sound that you control into it such that your brain is lulled into
ignoring the totality of sound around you.

"People conflate the positive psychological effects of creating a cocoon of
their favorite sounds in an environment of noise they can’t control with
positive effects on their productivity."

The effects ARE positive, RELATIVE to the plain noisy environment they're
stuck in. When I have an actually quiet workspace, I have no music playing at
all, or at best something very, very low and without lyrics.

~~~
vonmoltke
> You don't have to actually drown out the ambient noise; you just have to put
> enough sound that you control into it such that your brain is lulled into
> ignoring the totality of sound around you.

That depends on who is using the headphones. I can't not pay attention to any
sound I hear. My brain is very good at filtering discrete signals out of
backgrounds.

------
dbcooper
I've found Music for Programming's mixes to be pretty good.

[http://musicforprogramming.net/](http://musicforprogramming.net/)

Dream Chimney's mixes on soundcloud also.

[https://soundcloud.com/the-dream-chimney](https://soundcloud.com/the-dream-
chimney)

In general, something classical, ambient, or minimal techno fits the bill.

~~~
JoshTriplett
Music for Programming has some interesting stuff, but personally, I need to
systematically avoid anything with lyrics to have a hope of being productive
while listening.

~~~
mhink
...?

I could be wrong, but the vast majority of MfP doesn't have lyrics. It's all
atmospheric, vague, kinda droning music.

[http://musicforprogramming.net/?c=aesthetic](http://musicforprogramming.net/?c=aesthetic)

------
dilap
I'm personally more or less a fan of open offices, but the noise really is a
problem and unfortunate -- I wish the social convention were to treat an open
office like a library, and louder conversations happened in private offices.

In the meantime, I find that using ear-plugging headphones alone with some
ear-muffs (for like construction work) over the top of the head, without
actual music, is reasonably effective at stopping sound.

~~~
masklinn
> I'm personally more or less a fan of open offices, but the noise really is a
> problem and unfortunate -- I wish the social convention were to treat an
> open office like a library, and louder conversations happened in private
> offices.

Then what's the point of open offices outside of penny-pinching?

~~~
dilap
Personally, I just enjoy the feeling of being around other people. I worked in
a private office in my first job out of college, and found it a bit lonely. In
college, most things got done in libraries or coffee shops or in small
gatherings of students or in computer labs, and it worked well. It wasn't like
people were completely silent, but there was an understanding you wouldn't be
distractingly loud, which isn't a social norm that seems to exist with open
offices, for whatever reason.

~~~
masklinn
Offices doesn't have to mean singles, 2x or 4x are pretty common and a
significant improvement on open office with respect to noise and disruptions.

------
suttree
Just leaving this here:

[https://www.somewhere.com/suttree/sparks/30629](https://www.somewhere.com/suttree/sparks/30629)

The Isolator device looks amazing, better than headphones.

~~~
lurkinggrue
It's like your own private office!

------
KaiserPro
this quote is basically it: _Music Is Distracting_

So, as someone who was taught from a young age that only one medium at one
time was allowed, open plan offices are a pain in the tits for me.

I used to sit next to a bloke who play wonderful music, but it never stopped.
Trying to debug anything complex was impossible.

Ultimately the only real way I could get round it was to use these:
[http://www.koss.com/en/products/headphones/full_size_headpho...](http://www.koss.com/en/products/headphones/full_size_headphones/QZ99__QZ99_Full_Size_Headphones)
This blocked out most of the noise.

To get over the last bit of detail I used a white noise generator:
[http://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/rainNoiseGenerator.php](http://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/rainNoiseGenerator.php)
(worth the support fee)

Now, this is still noise, but its constant and easily ignored.

~~~
mpdehaan2
It would have been a good article to help champion the cause of "don't tell me
I have to use headphones to work here", if not for the "music is distracting"
point IMHO.

Music is sometimes _orienting_. A decent steady BPM can keep you going through
even boring slogs without getting distracted sometimes.

That all being said, having to listen to music, having to decide on what to
listen to, and not being able to achieve quiet when you don't want music,
that's a problem.

It's wrong to say you HAVE to listen to music. It's great to listen to when
you want to, but having to listen to it all day because you can't stand the
noise can be rather oppressive.

------
erikb
I work in a 4 people office and already feel it's too noisy, too many people
walking behind me etc. Maybe other people are smarter than me, but for me it's
not a work environment if I should develop software. But my pay is not
connected to my performance so I don't have much to complain about.

~~~
hoggle
Have you ever considered working remotely?

~~~
erikb
I have, my management hasn't. In theory it's no problem but if you miss the
meetings you are basically screwed.

------
paulpauper
Bring back the cubicles. Open offices are done not for collaboration and
openness, but done to save money

~~~
jeremiep
Which is why they are so ironic. Most open-offices reduce employee's sense of
privacy, motivation and has tons of other negative effects. What began as a
money saving scheme ends up costing more to the company, but goes completely
unnoticed by those who initiated the change.

------
mfringel
"Just wear headphones" is the new "Just hit delete."

~~~
gumby
Wow, what an insightful metaphor. Referring to that noise as _spam_ (which it
is) or a huge "Reply all" chain might get the message across.

------
kylec
I completely agree, especially about the feeling of vulnerability. It's
apparently something that not everyone experiences, but there's no way I'm
going to wear something that removes my ability to hear someone walking up
behind me.

------
delinka
I've carefully tuned my use of headphones and music to my preferences and to
minimize distractions. Here's my list:

    
    
        1. Earbuds that block sound, or over-the-ear headphones that block sound
        2. Nothing with lyrics. Voices are distracting. I'm really just here for the
           noise that's not other humans having a conversation.
        3. Use a streaming service that tailors the music to my preferences. 
           Pandora was my favorite, but I'm currently on Spotify. I don't have to 
           curate my own lists and I still get music that's all similar and not 
           distracting. It usually ends up being trance-like. Anything "jammin" or
           "fun" is indeed distracting.
    

What I'm not getting here is how the generalization "music is a distraction"
is justified. Was a large sample of music types used?

As for "being watched," I'm not particularly ashamed of my work habits. I do
indeed post to HN (in case you didn't notice), read news, read comics (oh,
forgot to catch up on those this morning...), keep up with my online peers,
... and I work. Watch me all day if you like. I'd prefer that you also get
work done, though.

------
kyberias
Hearing "just wear headphones" would mean I'd resign the same day.

------
mcdougle
> Music is Distracting

Sometimes, the right kind of distraction is good. Even if having no
distractions gives me the _opportunity_ to have acute concentration on the
subject, in practice, having the right kinds of distractions really do help me
reach peak productivity.

If I don't have music or background noise of some kind, my mind wanders and I
never really reach that "acute concentration" point anyways. But I work best
with the right kind of music -- or even a TV show that's _just interesting
enough_ to be background noise (without capturing all of my attention).

That said, the wrong kinds of distractions truly are too distracting. The
study mentioned that music with lyrics is more distracting; I know that my
favorite songs (generally 70s classic rock) really do grab my attention away
from work sometimes. Music where the words are unintelligible and fade into
the sounds or music without words actually works a lot better. Also, obviously
a really captivating TV show will definitely hurt productivity.

------
someone89987
I found this article to be worthless. I work in an open office that is fairly
noisy. Although we in this area are mostly separated from the call center
people (there is only one in this section, probably due to seniority), but
there are some developers who are frequently loud, horsing around with nerf
guns, etc. My Shure IEMs block all of this easily. People around me have
conversations about which headphones they should buy, I show them mine, and
then they come back and say they want something with noise-canceling but that
doesn't go in their ears. Sorry, you want water that isn't wet, and it can't
be helped. Scared about having your back to the unknown? Get over it; it's a
personal fear that is able to be corrected. I used to be overly self-self-
conscious, but no longer. The One way, which is what worked for me, is to do
absolutely nothing distracting while at work. Ant website I view for more than
a minute is work-related in some small way and I have no reservations about
doing that for as long as I want. Right now I'm typing into a black screen
that is not echoing anything that I type back to me, so anyone passing by me
is only going to see what appears to be me pretending to type. Let them think
that, it doesn't matter to me. A guy to my left just views time-wasting
websites all day, every day. He would be the first-fire if I had any say in
this, but I don't care about him. Back to the headphones... All of these
things that could be described as "earbuds" are junk. They don't seal the ear
canal, so you don't get sound isolation, then I would assume if there was
noise in the environment's, you would be forced to crank up the volume to
compensate. I am listening to classical music from a streaming playlist that
is running from an mpd server on my home computer through my phone (unlimited
data). There is no distraction, as I have pruned this playlist of opera and .
Lyrical music and hip-hop is good, but too much of it and you get the tape
loops in your mind that can be distracting.

------
squigs25
For these reasons I have been using ear muffs (similar to the ones you would
use for lawn mowing). Currently I am using Howard Leight Sync. It's basically
an "over the ear" ear plug when it's not on. You can also use them as poor
quality headphones.

It gets hot, but it seems to be one of the best solutions I have found.

------
neves
I use earplugs. They are cheap, comfortable e doesn't damage your ears. I
started to use them when there was some construction work in my street. But I
started to like it so much that now I use them on the plane, the bus, to
sleep, and to work. 3M sells some cheap ones:
[http://solutions.3m.co.uk/wps/portal/3M/en_GB/PPE_SafetySolu...](http://solutions.3m.co.uk/wps/portal/3M/en_GB/PPE_SafetySolutions_EU/Safety/FeaturedProducts/EAR_Classic_Earplugs/)

The problems are: People won't notice you are using it, and start talking to
you from your back. That's a sure way to get weird looking faces from your
colleagues.

------
pbreit
It's extraordinarily presumptuous to suggest that headphones are an answer for
many/most people. Fact is a lot of people do not like wearing headphones or
listening to music/audio while working.

------
rdl
How would you even get "offices for everyone" as a 10 to 200 person growing
startup these days (in SF or Seattle)? An open-plan space and then TI to build
out offices? Find some 1940s non-tech building and rent there in multiple
floors?

"Office with a door" would be worth $20-30k/yr in salary and $50-100k/yr in
productivity to me as an employee/user, but on the supply side, it would be
challenging to provide.

~~~
odonnellryan
There are a lot of options:

1) Put your office in a lower income area (maybe not completely desirable, but
not everyone has to be in the heart of NYC or SF)

2) Let some or all employees work from home. Especially the loud ones! I don't
mean specific people, of course, but some jobs are just loud: customer
support, sales, operators, etc.. usually the loud jobs are awesome at-home
jobs, as well! Customer support is almost always remote support anyway.

3) Restructure. Many of these companies that can't put everyone in an office
have huge or multiple offices for their executive staff. I knew a company
where one of the co-owner's offices was as big as the tech room which had 12
desks! The conference room was twice as big as this, and barely used!

------
markbnj
Hey I have a better idea! Let's just wrap each person in thick, acoustically
impenetrable foam. Then our open office plan will be a complete success.

------
Terr_
All decent points, but I'm perplexed how the author acts/implies that all
programmers are going to be listening to "pop songs" or songs with lyrics.

I am completely unsurprised that there are studies showing lyrics interfere
with concentration--I've been avoiding them while working for years. I've even
chosen usernames in some music-systems reflecting the fact.

------
jilted
I wear earplugs on a regular basis and they are great for drowning out
excessive noise. I do remove them off and on, especially if I'm in a meeting
with someone or if I have to hop on a call.

If I don't wear them, I tend to get distracted and irritated by various
sounds. Now, you can still hear things, but they are dampened which is
soothing for me at least.

~~~
Coincoin
I have chronic ear infections and pain because of earplugs overuse. But I have
no choice, some sounds literally drive me crazy, yes, literally.

------
thewarrior
I got to know how music retards your reflexes by playing a reaction time test.

Just try the humanbenchmark.com reaction time test with and without music.
When you're listening to music your reaction times will always be higher.

That's when I realized that I listening to music could be counter productive.
Maybe some ambient rain noise or something would be ideal.

------
jasonkostempski
I have glass at the top 1/4 of my cubical walls. They happen to be angled in
such a way that I pretty much get 360 view of the office. The reflection is
soft enough that it's not as distracting as a solid mirror would be. I feel,
at least for me, this solves the feeling of vulnerability with or without
headphones in.

------
pacomerh
"Science says we're full of it. Listening to music hurts our ability to recall
other stimuli, and any pop song -- loud or soft -"

Not very useful article if they assume I'm gonna be listening to pop music. If
the writer didn't even care to talk about other types of music this is
basically a very poor written post.

------
Coding_Cat
>If you listen to music with earbuds or headphones at levels that block out
normal discourse, you are in effect dealing lethal blows to the hair cells in
your ears.

I can not have normal discourse with my headphones on, even if they're off.
And these are just a pair of normal over-ear headphones (DT-770's).

------
lurkinggrue
The past year I just got an office and so happy I have my back to a wall. The
amount of stress from people walking behind me was getting too much to take.

I tend to find it funny that management that proposes the Open Office idea
tend to be the ones who are in offices.

------
josai
A pair of Bose QC25's has been my most objectively productive purchase this
last year. I highly recommend anyone in an open plan office to buy some, or
something like them - they're expensive but worth every cent.

~~~
jeremiep
I find it odd that it's up to employees to fix the toxic work environment of
the employers, especially when we need to cash out hundreds of dollars.

~~~
josai
Well, I agree, but I think that horse has bolted long ago. The article
discusses the risk of extended loud listening with headphones, which employees
buy themselves (I've never heard of an employer buying headphones).

My point was that as long as you're buying headphones anyway, buy some good
noise-cancelling ones, and you'll mitigate a lot of the risks in the article.
It does suck that it's on employees to do this, but here we are.

------
iamwil
I end up wearing ear plugs inside of headphones to block out the noise.
Sometimes I wear both because I'm afraid of hearing loss. But it's
uncomfortable. I just feel like I have a stuffy sinus.

------
justonepost
WFH + Open plans are great and should generally be encouraged. The open plan
facilitates communications and general discussion. I encourage my team to
spend at least 3 days a week at work during our 'core' time (12-5pm/MWF). It
gets a bit noisy and productivity drops a bit, but team morale is good and
there is a lot of cross pollination of ideas and knowledge. The only
difficulty I've had is nearby teams haven't adopted this approach (they don't
WFH) so we have to be careful about our volume level when we're in the office.

~~~
s73v3r
How do open plan offices facilitate communicating if everyone is wearing
headphones with music cracked up all day? And if you're promoting WFH, then
pepper should be using something like email or chat, which means that open
plan is unnecessary.

And have you actually done any studies to prove that the cross pollination
actually harkens, or does anything?

~~~
justonepost
Wearing headphones while in the open space is antithesis to our team. No one
does it. Random interruptions at work are expected and even encouraged. I have
not done any studies at all except to privately ask the team during 1:1s if
they like it, and they do. In this market where engineers are hard to keep, I
prioritize morale over productivity.

------
noir_lord
[http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bio-Ears-Silicone-EarPlugs-
Protectio...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bio-Ears-Silicone-EarPlugs-
Protection/dp/B0013HGG0C/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1434990081&sr=8-3&keywords=silicon+earplugs)

Used these for years to help me sleep (I have insomnia and the slightest
background noise wakes me up).

They also work brilliantly at cutting out background noise when I'm trying to
focus (even use them at home if I have the windows open), silence is golden!.

------
Paul_S
Go on, find me a single non-open plan employer (I live in the UK). I still
remember the times when people had offices, it was fantastic.

------
acconrad
Now to be fair I am in favor of giving employees isolated rooms to work in,
however the reality is that at small startups they simply cannot afford that
kind of office space. If you're concerned about noise and also the loudness of
music playing in headphones, you can always get what construction workers use
to block out noise:

[http://www.homedepot.com/p/Howard-Leight-Thunder-T3-Noise-
Bl...](http://www.homedepot.com/p/Howard-Leight-Thunder-T3-Noise-Blocking-
Dielectric-Headband-
Earmuffs-1010970/203066856?cm_mmc=Shopping%7cBase&gclid=CLSUo6G2o8YCFdcSHwodwA8AGw&gclsrc=aw.ds)

They look pretty intense but it's certainly one way to solve the problem.

~~~
normloman
" the reality is that at small startups they simply cannot afford that kind of
office space."

But I bet small startups could afford to let employees work from home a couple
days a week.

~~~
logfromblammo
Or four and a half days a week.

Actually, any startup that chooses new open-office workspaces over secondhand
cubicles solely for reasons of cost might also want to consider moving to a
location with cheaper office space leases. Even $5/sq.ft. is too high for a
startup, regardless of the workspace furniture.

