Does White Noise Help In A Noisy Environment?

HenryWirz asks: "My cube is situated next to the office 'Relationship Consultant' which is quite distracting. For coding I crank up my tunes, but I find it hard to read documentation with music. I think the solution to my problem is white noise. So my question is: Where can I find good white noise CD's? How about those white noise generators?" Do you find that white noise helps you concentrate in a distracting environment, or are there other methods that might work better?

Comments

here's my solution

[jbridge21]

$ cat /dev/urandom > /dev/dsp

Optionally, you can change the inherent pitch by doing something like this:

$ cat /dev/urandom | bplay -s 22050 -b 8
$ cat /dev/urandom | bplay -s 32000 -b 8

Or whatever you feel like.
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White noise

[Dannon]

I don't know about white noise generators myself, never used one. White noise is nothing really but random static in which all sound frequencies are equally present. You could get the same effect by listening to a seashell, a blank tape. If I want to ignore noise or drown out the office air conditioning, I'd rather listen to something with a beat. Like the other posters said, maybe some easy listening or jazz.
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This probably won't help...

[ArcticChicken]

...but you never know. And Cliff's comment, "or are there other methods that might work better?" affords me some license. ;)

Besides, right now at 3 AM these mental images are making me chuckle.

In all seriousness, around the workplace I find it's usually far more effective to illustrate your need for something. As dramatically as possible. "Asking" is for wussies. ;)

On Monday, go in to work as usual. Except carry in a large cardboard box with you. Make sure that on your way to your desk as many of your co-workers see the box as possible, but pretend like it's not even there. Ignore any/all strange looks or outright questions about it.

Sit down at your desk and place the box on the floor next to you. Take this out from the box and put it on. Then take this out and put it on too. (Make sure you get one with the optional visor.) Then begin your workday normally.

If you decide to take a break for any reason, do not remove the protective gear. If you have to go to the washroom, the clothing stays on. If you take lunch, the clothing stays on. Hell, if a fire breaks out ... well ... with all that gear you probably have an advantage anyway so don't worry about that one.

For added effect, turn some music on at your desk as loud as you can. If anyone is foolish enough to ask you to turn the volume down, greet them with a blank look, and then yell back that you can't hear what they're saying because of the noise levels you have to deal with in your work area. A true geek will have patched their helmet's microphone in through their sound system before doing this. Bonus: once your mic is hooked in, hum along with the music.

By the end of the day, it's guaranteed that even the "Relationship Consultant" will have received your the message. Furthermore, it's highly unlikely that anyone will ever again stop by and interrupt you while you're working, whether you're wearing the gear or not.

White noise sucks. Go for the old, "conditions are so bad I'm going insane," ploy. ;)

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My new motto for around the workplace: WWJD - What would JWZ do? ;)

purpose of white noise

[DuctTape]

When our company moved from an older building with dropped ceilings to a new one that had high hard ceilings that reflected just about any noise, they installed white noise generators. These generators sounded more like escaping HP air or steam than just any random noise. They hadn't initially turned them on on our floor, and when they did, I complained to facilities that there was something wrong with the A/C units or something similar. Yeah, I guess it did do something to mask the noise from adjacent cubes, but I think that it was more irritating than helpful. I still got to hear about coworkers' personal lives.

(and why do companies keep insisting on cube villages instead of offices when their people work so much more efficiently in offices? -- another question for another time)

DT
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White-noise environments.

[josefcub]

I work in a white noise environment (Semiconductor manufacturing), and all that seems to do is cause me to lose my train of thought, and fall asleep on the job (Which my co-workers seem to notice, though thankfully the supervisor hasn't yet:) without fail, every night. Maybe low levels of white noise help, but it seems that if you go over a low threshold of noise, it becomes more of a counterproductive irritant... At work, I strive to be nearest the loud conversationalists, just to have a frame of reference in the sea of noise and stay awake.

Just my $0.02. Delivered after 48 hours inside said white noise... *YAWN*

Nope.

[bluGill]

We have white noise in some areas. We discovered that with them on people feel they have to talk louder, so they are heard farther away. Then we turn the white noise up louder, so people talk louder yet. Seems all the loud mouths compensate for white noice by yelling, while the soft spoken person gets frusterated because nobody can hear them.

Personally I wear ear plugs. I can hear lout noises (fire alarm), and nothing else until I'm tapped on the shoulder by someone needing my attention.

Attention Deficit Disorder: Practical Coping Mthds

[Zoyd]

Chapter 14 (ADD in the Workplace) of Fisher and Beckley's Attention Deficit Disorder: Practical Coping Methods recommends:

Find a setting that is not distracting or use "white noise" to block out common distractions so you are able to complete paperwork. Be prepared to use your portable CD player, offering instrumental music for increased concentration.

It sounds like you're already thinking on the same wavelength as Fisher and Beckley.

In addition to wearing headphones, I would recommend for anyone who finds office distractions overly distracting to get himself screened for ADD without hyperactivity. ADD is a federally recognized disability. If you have it, you can force your office to reasonably accommodate you under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and, if your office is receiving any government money, the Rehabilitation Act of 1973.

Re:Does adding noise reduce noise?

[dmatos]

Actually, you are right. There are ways to do this. The physics aren't too hard either.

Basically, sound is waves in the air. You can think of them just like water waves if you want, with high spots and low spots (in actual fact, it's areas of denser and rarer air). It is possible to set up sound cancellors. All you have to do is send a "high" signal when the noise wave is "low" and vice versa. The two add up to become nothing, otherwise known as destructive interference.

I haven't read it all (crappy colour/font scheme) but I think that this article talks about noise filtering in DSPs, but the same concepts can easily be applied to audio noise. Record the noise, create and output the opposite, and bingo! Theoretically perfect silence.

It's not vapourware, either. Varga Air is selling several models of headphones that cancel out background noise, using this method.