ambient noise

[da]

Last night, my office's Uninteruptable Power Supply failed (all told, the third to fail on me since November.) So I left my usual desktop turned off last night. When I started working this morning, I couldn't concentrate, it was just too loud without the masking computer noise.

Maybe that's a good reason why computers shouldn't be made silent?

Comments

[dcseain.livejournal.com]

...it was just too loud without the masking computer noise.

Loud how? In your head?

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

"Loud how? in your head?"

hm... if a tree falls in a hallway...

But: "too loud" in the sense that I was bugged by the ambient conversations from next-door and the hallway (and beeping from a nearby bank machine). Before today, I'd say I had a relatively quiet surroundings.

(And this might explain why I was bugged by the bank machine beep on my first few days in this office; I hadn't turned on my usual desktop machine yet...)

That Makes Sense

[dcseain.livejournal.com]

When i moved out to the burbs, bank machine beeps freaked me out. In the city and most of the inner burbs, the machines make no noise at all, lest you draw attention of criminals. I find the beeps annoying, and a danger, myself.

In my office, i can hear most of what happens in 5 surrounding offices, even with 2 desktops and a fan running. So from my POV, you do have a quiet work environment, though i easily see how the ATM beeps would be very annoying.

[dr-tectonic.livejournal.com]

*hiss!*

Computer noise is evil. EEEEE-VIL. White noise is teh sukc!

I think the right solution is to turn on your speakers and mask the distracting noises with music, instead.

[da-lj.livejournal.com]

Heh. For me, it greatly depends on the sort of computer noise. HD whine, teh sux. Fan noise, as long as it's not too high-pitched, is fine on my ears.

Music... is good too, but I need to be in the mood (for music at all; or a particular type; or a particular piece).

Maybe... my preferred work music is... ambient, looping, and repetitive to the point of being a single low-volume tone. ;)