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Does White Noise Help In A Noisy Environment? 29

Posted by Cliff from the ignoring-the-folks-in-the-office-next-door dept.
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?
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Does White Noise Help In A Noisy Environment? More

Does White Noise Help In A Noisy Environment?

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  • I would personnally recommend ambient music, such as "Selected Ambient Works, Volume II" by Aphex Twin (yeah, i know a lot of their other stuff is anything but ambient, but trust me on this one.) Or perhaps "Pieces in a Modern Style" by William Orbit Also check out artists like Autechre

    I also find scores from video games and movies are frequently great for background music. If you can find the Soundtrack to Myst or an original Quake CD, those have decent background music.

  • I find white noise to be anoying as all hell, but i've heard it helps some people

    Personaly, I like tunes without many lyrics (techno, house, clasical sometimes)

  • I find that rock, country , and what not are a real distraction while reading, and I find that classical and opera helps me to concentrate better, so you may consider changing the type of music you listen to.

  • $ 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.
    -----
  • 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.
    ---

  • This probably won't help... (Score:4)

    by ArcticChicken ( 172915 ) on Saturday November 18, 2000 @10:39PM (#615088)
    ...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 [botachtactical.com] out from the box and put it on. Then take this [racal-acoustics.co.uk] 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. ;)

    ---------------------
    My new motto for around the workplace: WWJD - What would JWZ do? ;)
  • Oh yeah, one more thing.

    Don't use any cryptographic software during or for some time after doing this. The results will be much less secure.

    And here's one for the kiddies: check out the difference between "bplay -s 22050 -b 8" and "bplay -S -s 22050 -b 8"!
    -----
  • For example, from 100 Hz to 200 Hz, there are one hundred discrete frequencies.

    No, frequency is a continuous quantity. Wouldn't it be a coincidence if every periodic phenomenon cycled a whole number of times every second, where a second is an arbitrary man-made unit of time? What about rotation of the Earth, with a period of 24 hours? That's got a frequency of less than 1Hz.

    OK, it is still correct that higher octaves will contain more energy because they span a wider range of frequencies, but statements like "from 100 Hz to 200 Hz, there are one hundred discrete frequencies" are frankly ideotic.

  • 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
    --

  • 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. (Score:2)

    by bluGill ( 862 )

    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.

  • White noise is nothing really but random static in which all sound frequencies are equally present.

    True, but white noise deserves a more complex explanation like the following one from

    http://iroi.seu.edu.cn/books/wh ati s/whitenoi.htm [seu.edu.cn]

    white noise and pink noise

    White noise is a sound that contains every frequency within the range of human
    hearing (generally from 20 Hz to 20 kHz) in equal amounts. Most people perceive
    this sound as having more high-frequency content than low, but this is not the
    case. This perception occurs because each successive octave has twice as many
    frequencies as the one preceding it. For example, from 100 Hz to 200 Hz, there are
    one hundred discrete frequencies. In the next octave (from 200 Hz to 400 Hz),
    there are two hundred frequencies.

    White noise can be generated on a sound synthesizer. Sound designers can use this sound, with some processing and filtering, to create a multitude of effects such as wind, surf, space whooshes, and rumbles.

    Pink noise is a variant of white noise. Pink noise is white noise that has been filtered to reduce the volume at each octave. This is done to compensate for the increase in the number of frequencies per octave. Each octave is reduced by 3 dB, resulting in a noise sound wave that has equal energy at every octave.
  • I'm quite fond of those El Cheapo "Sounds of Nature" CD's. When I worked at Circuit Shi^H^H^HCity they had a big bargain bin with those for $2-$5 a pop; I enjoyed marching up to the counter with $20 and coming away with a whole armload of nice non-distracting background noise. It may put you to sleep, though.

    As a general rule: if it's something I can sing along with, it stands a good chance of fux0ring me up if I'm doing something that involves words. I have a lot of Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance, various game soundtracks, and Celtic stuff I listen to at work.
  • Everything is discrete - distance, mass, even time. There simply is no duration shorter than about 1E-14 seconds. This is one of the mind boggling aspects of quantum physics, hence the name quantum.

  • I work in an "open environment" which surprisingly is much less noisy than the cube farm.

    Everyone there swears by these noise cancelling headphones/"ear bugs". I've had (bad?) white noise generators that are way more irritating than people talking loudly around me. I'd definitely look for a hardware solution over white noise CDs.

  • Some people swear by it.
    If you want a white noise generator then find a local hearing aid supplier or your national organisation for Deaf people. Some Deaf people find that white noise helps to mask the effects of Tunnitus.

    These units usually have other sounds such as "thunderstorm", "falling raindrops", "heartbeats" (sorry I'm reading from the catalogue as I type) and such like. They're generally battery powered.
    Expect to pay GBP25 for basic to GBP70 for more exotic sounds.
    Expect to pay GBP65-70 if you want a headphone socket, mains power and a timer which switches it off.

  • No, don't use white noise. It isn't good for your ears and your hearing will degrade, although it may take several years before it becomes noticeable.

    I personally find that instrumental classical music is best if I need to concentrate. Bach, Beethoven, Fauré, Mahler, 17th century brass music. YMMV. Find an internet radio channel which provides music that doesn't require brain activity.

    Maybe you could use active hearing protection? That's essentially a headset with sound-cancelling circuitry. It emits sound waves with the opposite amplitude of the incoming sound wave. You can also get desktop adornments with this circuitry, muffling sound within a very small distance from the box. You could actually use your computer for this. :-) Put a mic in the Relationship Consultant's room, then FFT the signal and invert the amplitude. With a little tweaking and suitable placing of speakers you could probably create a sphere of silence just in front of your monitor. :-)

    --Bud

  • cool. if you cat a compiled 2.2 kernel and redirect it to /dev/dsp you can hear linux saying "bill must die"

    ---

  • Attention Deficit Disorder: Practical Coping Mthds (Score:3)

    by Zoyd ( 13778 ) on Saturday November 18, 2000 @10:34PM (#615101)
    Chapter 14 (ADD in the Workplace) of Fisher and Beckley's Attention Deficit Disorder: Practical Coping Methods [amazon.com] 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.
  • 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 [herberts.org] 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 [vargaair.com] is selling several models of headphones that cancel out background noise, using this method.
  • Having my fair share of serious concentration problems ill tell you what i feel has helped me most. 1) while reading or doing anything where your trying to remember stuff (studying for a test at school etc) listen to musics light in the lyrics department personally im a big pink floyd fan so i find Dark Side of the Moon to be great for that. 2) Coding or preforming any task that involves creativity i like to have the loudest possible music i can get, personally i find anything hard rock/metal/heavy alt rock to work great though sometimes ill listen to softer stuff. White noise i usually find annoying and sometimes even distracting... id much rather hear some good music especially stuff that i know really well because then i dont concentrate on the lyrics at all.
  • That is by no means generally accepted within the physics community.
  • Get yourself a set of good earphones. They should be closed i.e. dampen outside noise which not all headphones do. Also, if you are going to listen to music all day long, invest in a set that is self-regulating or otherwise your outer ears are going to ache at the end of the day.

    I find any music with lyrics distracting while working. Any words in the background are bad. What if you were counting a set of items and then suddenly someone would shout ONE HUNDRED TWENTY FOUR in your left ear. Would you get lost? Most likely. The same thing applies to working with words and then suddenly hearing words in the background; You get lost.

    I prefer ambient types of techno best because not only are they without words; Ambient techno often also has a paced beat which speeds you up mentally and unconsciously, compared to classical music which tends to be quite slow. In fact, beat has a lot more effect on how we feel than we might think. Both the beat of techno music and the beat of a shaman's drum together with dancing have been able to put people into a trance - without any drugs whatsoever. I was thought this when I was studying theology, so it isn't just heresay.

    I live in Europe, where techno is more popular than in the US. There is a large supply out there for you to explore.


  • Okay, how about:

    "from 100 Hz to 200 Hz, there are one hundred humanly perceivable discrete frequencies"

  • Okay, how about: "from 100 Hz to 200 Hz, there are one hundred humanly perceivable discrete frequencies"

    That is still false. Besides, there are the same number of humanly perceivable discrete frequencies in every octave. And for people with normal listening skills, the figure is more like 50 distinguishable frequencies in any given octave.

  • George Winston. A friend turned me on to him while I was in college and spending many hours studying math. I found his music helped me to pound out the equations for hours at a time. Since then, I've found the same when I'm coding.

    Basically, I agree that the solution is no lyrics.

    Hope this helps,


  • Active Noise Cancellation (or Reduction) is the thing you want. The local environmental noise is sampled, and the unit generates an inverse of the noise in order to cancel it out in real time. This works best close to the noise source, because of the radiative propagation of sound, otherwise you get awful moire' like interference patterns, where spots are silent right next to spots where the noise is twice as loud. In cases where ANC cannot be co-located with the noise source, it can still be effective in areas where the noise is channeled between the source and the listener. Like in the exhaust system for a car, or at the ear canals for a particular listener.

    And that's where these headphones come in. The box attached to them does the sampling/generation. And it pipes the inverted sounds up to the earphones. They are a touch on the expensive side, but they should do a great job at flitering out outside distractions. They'll do better in situations where the noise is more droning and monotonous than your case with the jabbering cow orker next door. It looks like the microphones are located just above the ear pieces, which is a good thing. You want the sampled sounds to come from as close to the cancellation point as possible.

    The earphones themselves look fairly well insulated, almost as much as the big 70's-style ones shown elsewhere on that page. You can run just the ANC, or you can use them as headphones for your stereo and add your instro/classical fare to insure that you have "corporate accounts, this is Nina speaking, just a moment" next door drowned out completely.

  • Hear hear! It sucks the life out of you and leaves you feeling hollow, listless and fatigued. And I still hear all the conversations in my immediate vicinity.

    White noise generators are installed by the same sort of moron who chooses cube farms for employees.
    --
    Change is inevitable.

  • Check out the MDR-NC5 Noise Cancelling Headphones [sony.com] from Sony and be amazed.
    I bought a pair of these during a stopover in Tokyo and i'll _never_ take another long haul plane flight without them They do a remarkably good job at filtering out background noise, especially lower frequencies.
    there are a few models, the lightweight ones i've linked to, some bud-type in-ear ones (that stick out of your ear and look like something from the original Star Trek and some nice, comfy fully-enclosed cans as well
    they run for ages off a single AAA battery, and as well as cancelling background noise, they also slightly amplify the audio playback...

    just in case that long URL comes through with spaces in it, it's
    http://www.sel.sony.com/SEL/consumer/ss5/office/ac cessories/noisecancelingheadphones/mdr-n c5.shtml

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