How to deal with office noise without harming your own ears

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Often the voices of colleagues in the office distract from work. Many people try to muffle them with headphones, which can lead to hearing loss. We figure out how best to protect yourself from extraneous noise and which headphones to choose.

Since it is often difficult to ignore the voices of colleagues, many try to drown them out. But each tool suitable for this purpose has its drawbacks. The noise canceling headphones sound good, but they also cost a lot. Someone uses earplugs. But taking brightly colored lumps of foam out of your ears every time someone wants to talk to you can feel odd.

Before deciding on a noise control product, you first need to make sure it will do more good than harm. Hearing acuity often decreases as people age. About half of people over 65 have this problem and it is irreversible. According to the World Health Organization, 1.1 billion people at risk of hearing loss, more than 1.1 billion young people are also at risk due to the fact that about half of the population in developed countries aged 12 to 35 years old abuses loud music.

"People age their ears a lot faster," warns Tony Ricci, a neuroscientist at Stanford University.

The Verge journalist Rachel Becker turned to experts for advice to avoid this problem. Prior to that, she struggled with loud noises in the office by listening to white noise in her Apple EarPods. But Rachel decided to find out how much such daily stress affects the auditory system, and if there are better alternatives.

In-ear headphones are a bad idea

The journalist's favorite way was the worst. Listening to a recording with white, brown, pink or any other noise in in-ear headphones so as not to hear office conversations will only make a loud environment even louder.

“There is a direct relationship between the volume of a sound and the duration of exposure long enough to damage hearing,” says Tony Ricci. If you drown out someone else's speech with headphones for days on end, the expert advises to make the sound quieter.

Music can hurt too, but because white noise is less distinct, it can appear deceptively quiet.

This position is shared by Stanford neuroscientist and cervical surgeon John Oghalai. That is, people can listen to noise very loudly without even realizing it.

“It masks the sounds of the environment, dominating them,” says Ohalay. “It's like trying to talk to your wife when the baby is crying. I hear the child, not the spouse. In this metaphor, the child is white noise.

On-ear headphones are still better

The earbuds don't fit snugly in your ears, which creates a new problem. They let the sounds of the surroundings pass through, which means you have to turn up the volume. Therefore, it is advisable to listen to white noise in on-ear headphones, because they isolate the ears and do not affect the pressure inside the ear canals.

Even vacuum earbuds will perform better than conventional earbuds, Ohalae says, as they reduce background noise. With them, you don't have to turn up the volume. But Ricci is concerned that vacuum headphones can build up pressure, which amplifies sound vibrations.

The main thing is not to forget about the duration of the listening and the volume. “Silent music on headphones shouldn't hurt,” says Ricci.

What about noise canceling headphones?

Noise canceling headphones have a microphone that picks up ambient sounds. In response to noise, such headphones generate reverse sound waves and, as a result, do not mask, but suppress it. Best of all, this technology drowns out monotonous low-frequency sounds like the hum of an airplane.

Noise canceling headphones for the office are not that great: they are not designed to combat high-frequency conversation sounds. “The noise should be monotonous, and when someone speaks, the headphones do not do well,” says Ohalay.

So, noise canceling headphones are probably more gentle than ordinary on-ear or earbuds, but they are not very suitable for the office.

The best choice is earplugs

The best remedy is perhaps the simplest. These are earplugs. It doesn't matter which of them you choose - in-ear foam earplugs or external in the headphone format. In particularly noisy places, you can even use two types at the same time.

There is a reason for this: earplugs do not mask or displace noise. They act as a physical barrier that protects the auditory system from sound. “They reduce the impact of sound waves, and every sound that gets inside is muffled,” says Ohalay. But you will first need to get used to in-ear earplugs. “I think they make your ears sweat,” adds Ricci.

Thus, earplugs can be your most effective protection against office noise. If they cause you discomfort, it is better to give up simple earbuds and opt for on-ear or vacuum headphones. But watch the volume level, especially if you are listening to noise instead of music.