How Do You Drown Out the Office Noise?

An anonymous reader asks: "We've recently had yet another office re-organization, which is not so bad in itself, but the noise level has increased significantly due to the type of furniture as well as job functions of those whom I share the office with. The first thing I think I'm going to do is to get a pair of noise canceling headphones, but before I spend hundreds of dollars I'd like to hear some opinions or alternatives. Two of the ones that look neat are the Extreme Isolation Headphones and Plane Quiet Headphones. What have others done to cope with noise level?"

Comments

in-ear headphones

[Bastian]

I saved myself a whole bunch of money and bought some in-ear headphones that use foam earplugs to block out noise.

Mine is a pair of Koss The Plug headphones. Honestly, they're not very good by themselves, because the foam earplugs that come with them are very poor - it's impossible to get a good seal with them. I replaced them with a pair of my own earplugs modified with a hole through the middle (for the 'acoustic tube' that channels the sound into your ear). With that one change, they become a decent pair of headphones. The sound is still weak comparied to some professional in-ear headphones that you can get for 10-20 times as much money, but they are better than your standard earbud.

But on the upside, they also block out background noise much better than my friend's Bose noise canceling headphones that also cost 10-20 times as much money.

Re:in-ear headphones

[fm6]

Absolutely correct. Sound-cancelling headphones have their uses, but they're all in environments much more noisy than any office. I bought a pair of Sony Fontopia in-ear headphones, which come with a multi-sized set of plugs. As a bonus, the sound quality is better than for any other headphones I've ever owned. And they're a lot easier to store than over-the-ear headphones.

Plain Old Full Ear Headphones

[Doug Dante]

Such as Sennheiser HD 202 Closed Headphones for about $20 will do fine.

Unless you work next to a drill press or milling machine, a good pair of cheap over the ear headphones will do you fine.

Just put them on with the music off, and you'll notice that they muffle the noise around you excellently.

BTW, I loved mine, perhaps too much. I think that my hearing has suffered somewhat from them. You may catch yourself listening at '10' to catch every detail, and that's not a good thing to do for several hours every day.

If you insist on getting noise cancelling headphones, you may want to wait for the Aiwa Noise-Canceling Headphones - HP CN6, which are only about $50.00.

Try cheaper first?

[cjhuitt]

I got some of the (cheaper) Koss noise-reducing headphones. Note the reducing part, instead of cancelling - it made the headphones about 1/4 the price of the noise cancelling kind. For my environment, they work pretty well. It definitely cuts out a lot of the noise that is not usually noticable until you haven't heard it for a while. Monitor hums, computer fans, small clicks and whirs, and even small squeaks from people shifting around and whatnot. I generally never noticed these until after I'd tried my headphones out for a couple of hours and then took them off again. They don't drown out everything, however. I could usually faintly hear the bus going by outside (I was at the street wall), and while they greatly reduced the noise from my riding lawn mower at home, it still sounding like you were sitting on top of a riding lawn mower.

For the ability to ignore/drown out more of the rest of the noise, I kept the headphones hooked up to a music source. Walkman, iPod, or whatever. If I really didn't want to be disturbed, I turned up the music until I couldn't hear normal-conversation voices from outside the headphone. Generally worked great, but if someone came up to me said "Hey!", I'd still hear them.

One interesting note to this type of headphones - your own chewing/swallowing noises aren't reduced much (if at all) while wearing them, as it is mostly transmitted through your jaw. When I had the headphones on and was chewing gum for the first time, it sounded like a disgusting mess. Something to bear in mind.

Re:Try cheaper first?

[ComputerSlicer23]

I have a set of Aiwa Noise Cancelling HP-CN6 head phones. My story is roughly like yours. The one thing I've been told about mine, is people try and talk to me and I can't hear them at all. Generally to get my attention from behind, you had to knock on my desk. It took me a while to convince people that shaking my chair wasn't such a good idea (it's like having your own personal earthquake), just tap me on the shoulder, or knock on my desk (I can feel that if I can't see it).

For about $60, they work really well. I've had the music cranked up pretty load and been told, they can't tell I'm playing music, so along with blocking out others noise, it also doesn't contribute to the problem. About my only beef with them, is they take batteries, and I have to keep my office phone, cell phone, and pager were I can see them flash to let me know when I have a phone call. Fortunately, I don't get many calls that need to be timely. However, that might be a more important consideration for other people.

Kirby

Plane Quiet, Bah!

[klausner]

Your "Plane Quiet" headphones are nothing other than Sony MDR-NC6 models, which can be had for as little as $25 with a little shopping around.

Lot's of choices with a little looking.

noice cancelling headphone reviews

[gothzilla]

Epinions has reviews of the Bose headphones here:
http://www.epinions.com/elec_Audio-Headphones_Koss _HB_SPZ-Bose_Noise_Cancelling_Headphones/display_~ reviews

Here's some more headphones from Epinions:
Maxell:http://www.epinions.com/Maxell_H P_NC_1_Nois e_Cancellation_Headphones__Lightweight_Headphones_ HPNC1/display_~reviews
Coby:http://www.epinions.com/Coby_Digital_Noise_ Ca ncelling_Stereo_Headphones_Headphones/display_~rev iews

The Kenwood headphones have no reviews.

This search from Epinons lists a lot of different brands but the only reviews are above. Check it out if you want to see more brands.
http://www.epinions.com/search/?submitted_form=sea rchbar&search_string=noise+cancelling&tax_name=Hea dphones&dyn_nav=0&dyn_nav_id=&search_vertical=t130 375&searchbar_submit=Search

Re:Shure E3c

[davco9200]

I have two pair of these (the E3c and E2C) and find them to be stellar at drowning out noise. I use them at the gym where I am moving around a lot (And where big air plane sized ear muffs are unsightly) and they work really well at almost completely drowning out the surrounding gym-blather. I have used the other style before and I have found my ears getting hot, and thus uncomfortable over long uses.

Check out the Comparison Chart of the different models. Yeah, they are pricey, and I wouldnt' spring for the most expensive ones unless you are a hyper audiophile. The only complaint (and I mean only) is that the base response is somewhat lacking but this can be compensated from the device side of things.

In conclusion:
* size / weight
* noise blocking versus noise canceling
* multi-fit
make them ideal for me and I strongly suggest that anyone looking for the same net results check them out.