zlacker

You're not the only person; it's why I absolutely despise open offices. I have trouble getting things done with people talking, and "just putting on headphones" doesn't really work because I have trouble focusing on anything but the music.

The closest thing I'll do to address my particular problem is find audio of stuff like thunderstorms or waterfalls and more ambient stuff. Personally, I find that much easier to tune out.

>>tomber+(OP)
I would invest in a pair of nice noise canceling headphones. They work wonders for me and are a must have in open offices.

>>inform+N
Did you read parent poster? What good are noise-cancelling headphones if you can't listen to music because it's distracting?

>>cel1ne+k2
You can use them to tune out noise around you. It muffles conversations, keyboard clacking, people sniffling, airconditioning noise, etc.

>>cel1ne+k2
They're cancelling noise whether or not you're listening to music ;-) Sweet sound of silence.

>>cel1ne+k2
Noise cancelling headphones can cancel noise without any music playing.

It's not 100%, but they'll get rid of like 80% of the background noise without playing anything. To get that last 20% yeah you need something playing to help mask it(even at an extremely low volume).

Sometimes I wear mine with nothing playing while at work just to get rid of random office chatter.

>>cel1ne+k2
You can get a nice pair of ear muffs for much less.

>>cel1ne+k2
But the parent was also talking about ambient stuff. Noise-cancelling headphones would definitely help.

>>tomber+(OP)
I use bose in-ear noise cancelling headphones with a custom spectrum of noise from mynoise.net playing which is specifically tuned to the same frequency as certain louder individuals in my office. Completely blocks it.

>>inform+N
Don't those only really work with low-pitched repetitive background noise? They don't do a lot for people talking.

I do have noise canceling headphones and I like them, but they don't really do a lot for people talking.

>>tomber+(OP)
I think this site does a decent job of avoiding music that can be focused on. They mention on the about page:

> we have found that the most effective music to aid prolonged periods of intense concentration tends to have a mixture of the following qualities:

    Drones
    Noise
    Fuzz
    Field recordings
    Vagueness (Hypnagogia)
    Textures without rhythm
    Minor complex chords 
    Early music (Baroque, lute, harpsichord)
    Very few drums or vocals
    Synth arpeggios
    Awesome / daunting / foreboding
    Walls of reverb

I personally don't mind a bit of rhythm, but this isn't music that your brain will latch on to and want to pay attention - it's more like pleasant ambient sounds.

However, I also suffer from an inability to get things done with people talking - I'm constantly inadvertently eavesdropping on my coworkers' conversations. I find that I have to push white noise up to uncomfortably dangerous levels to drown out conversation - your audio processing systems tolerate shockingly high SNR - but changing, musical audio like this is harder to tune out than thunderstorms or waterfalls and therefore permits me to turn down the volume.

I just wish someone would build an audio-cancelling headset, instead of the usual noise-cancelling ones that take away background noise but let voices come through clearly...

>>cel1ne+k2
Seems you failed to realise that 'noise-cancelling' headphones is good for noise cancelling, not just listening to music.

My Bose QC35 set is ~4 years old, on their second set of muffs and only play sound when I fly, once or twice a year.

>>LeifCa+O4
Space Ambient is best for this purpose... https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLuqZTQ_5gsppMEJWlJoH3...

>>tomber+(OP)
I recommend in-ear headphones. You just put them in. No music is necessary.

>>LeifCa+O4
> However, I also suffer from an inability to get things done with people talking

Just like for the parent poster, I recommend in-ear headphones. You put them in the ears, and that's all. Listen to all the sound of no one talking and nothing playing.

>>tomber+(OP)
Like you suggest, ambient noise (I'm fond of GNOME's pomodoro bird sounds :)) can help. However I've found that earplugs work even better. I had some nice ones because I attend a lot of shows/dance concerts and want to protect my hearing. Started using them in class during tests and found it to be really effective. Generally useful for every situation I needed to 'turn the volume down' on life.

>>LeifCa+O4
Pure white noise doesn't quite work for me because my hearing will try to make sense of it anyway. It's akin to looking at tv static and seeing images fuzz & flicker in and out of the signal noise. Interestingly enough, this observation got me into making noise music for awhile, it started with just some noise oscillators running through filters with lfo's on them. Then add in some noise osc's with amplitude envelopes and you can create rhythmic elements, but I digress.

>>chesch+X3
Another vote for mynoise.net and the Android app. I haven't tried it with noise-cancelling headphones though, just some fairly good Sennheiser HD380s.

Also, the idea of you fine tuning certain individuals out is hilarious to me. Nice job on saving your sanity!

>>tomber+j4
Get some 3M work tunes headphones. Really cheap and they work much better than active noise canceling headphones.

>>aasasd+z7
If you aren’t going to play anything why not just use earplugs?

>>LeifCa+O4
For others who find they need too-loud music or noise, here's my 3 step process that works.

1. Get any in-ear earbuds (for noise even cheapy ones are fine, for music pick whatever type you like).

2. Get the foam tips to fit them: https://www.complyfoam.com/products/t-series/

3. Put some hearing-protection ear-muffs on top

A tiny amount of noise will make all other sounds disappear at this point.

>>tomber+j4
I have Bose noise canceling headphones, and my experience with them is that they do a really good job of blocking conversational noise if you use them with music.

>>tcoff9+Cf
As someone who does this in other situations: because unlike earplugs, my headphones can also double as headphones in other situations.

>>LeifCa+O4
I have had some experience listening to video game music, esp those from strategy games, they are designed to stay firmly in the background during game play.

>>tcoff9+Cf
Headphones look less weird in the office, and are also functional for when I want to watch a video.

>>aidenn+If
It can also work the other way- if you need budget noise isolation- get foam earplugs, and over ear headphones, turn the music up while simultaneously not hearing anything but it. Saved my hearing while riding motorcycles. Cheap helmet speakers sound pretty good with the volume cranked up and ear protection in- while it blocks out the dangerous wind noise.

>>remmar+9g
Same experience here. The downside is situations where people end up standing behind or near me to get my attention. Have been startled many times. Still, for an open office they seem a must have.

>>LeifCa+O4
It is interesting that the site mentions drones, noise, fuzz and walls of reverb as being conducive to concentration. I tried a number of these tracks, and these were the features that caused me to abandon a track. Dissonance would probably aso have that affect, but ambient music tends to avoid it.

Softly-spoken words in a language I do not understand seem to work.

It may be that I am just selecting for sounds that I can ignore. When I really need to concentrate I, like the OP of this thread, prefer silence, though, unlike the OP, I am not musically knowledgeable.

>>LeifCa+O4
I had so much trouble working around people that I would get an empty conference room. The gentle AC fan in the conference room would act as a "white noise" for me, which would help me concentrate. I then found this iOS app called Noisli that had white noise that helped. But working around people has always been challenging for me especially when they get into a conference call and you can hear squeaky noises of people from the other side of the call!

>>yonagu+cj
Good point, though that's probably less ideal for an office setting, where people can hear your cranked-up volume.

>>chesch+X3
I love that you tailored the noise to actual people's voices! Play track Greg from Accounting...

>>dukoid+w6
And the closely related Space Atmoblack is quite possibly the worst...

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCh1Kbh5Ln8tMJ_h7IykOFkg/vid...

>>chesch+X3
I really need to know, do these individuals know that they've been IRL-killfiled?

>>billfr+ng
Do you have any playlist to suggest? Thanks

>>boring+KN1
Well none of them are/were Usenet users, so no, but yes I did inform the two most predominate offenders specifically so they know they have to get my attention in other ways when addressing me directly.

>>chesch+LU1
"Killfile" was still being used by mailing list users, at least ten years or so ago

>>chesch+X3
I somehow misread your post as saying you had "in-ear, bone conduction" noise cancelling headphones. What a sight those would be.

>>LeifCa+O4
So for the high volume issue specifically, mynoise.net is a great website that allows you to adjust the volume of differing frequency ranges. I particularly enjoy the white rain noise. I'll put in my headphones and turn every frequency up until it overtakes the ambient conversation or music, from high frequency to low. This allows the noise to cover up sounds but not be too loud by only being turned up where it needs to be. Essential for math in the university library.