Managing Noises and Sound during Work From Home
Sound is an essential part of our everyday life, but due to the amount of “things” that can emit sound, most of the time it will be only became noises, or a collection of unwanted sounds, which may or may not bother any accidental listeners nearby.
In the context of working office spaces, noises has become an issue among the workers, especially for those working at open offices. A research conducted by Steelcase shows that noisy workplace can make the workers not being able to concentrate easily while reducing their “productive” time by 86 minutes in average.
On the other hand, the COVID-19 pandemic has popularized the term of “Work From Home” as hundreds of thousands of workers continue their work at the comfort of their homes.
But, the noise issue would not stay at corporate office settings, it will continue to create annoyance and potential harm among the Working-From-Home workers, with various types of noises, unique at each settings. As someone who having a slight Tinnitus, living in a close proximity with an active home construction site and having to deal with a weary Air Conditioning unit which emits loud trilling noises, noise (and no noise) has become a mild annoyance for me since I started working at home.
To manage all of the noises at home, here’s some tips that you can apply (and I’ve personally did), which I divided into 3 key areas:
People
Ask for consent and set ground rules with the people at home
This is the first, essential step that you have to do to have a calm, peaceful working-from-home environment. If you are not living alone at home and don’t want someone randomly passes behind you when you’re having an online meeting or having to deal with loud conversations that could happened between anyone at home, it’s recommended to set some ground rules and let them know and understand that you are currently working at home and sometimes needed to be focus.
Personal Space
Set a quiet workspace area
It’s always a good idea to work in a relatively quiet area in your home, especially in a middle of an enclosed room with a solid door and window with no noticeable gaps between the door/window and frame.
But, that would not stop there. Check if your room has equipment that emit noises, such as Air Conditioner , Laptop, Fans, Wall Clock, etc. If one of the equipment starts emitting noises that is abnormal to the unit, consider to repair or replace the unit immediately.
Use sound absorbing equipment
FIf you notice that your room sounds echo-ey whenever you’re speaking or playing music, or if you can hear noises from the outside of your room easily, you can start to soundproof your room by:
- Install soundproofing panels
- Check if there are any gaps between doors/windows and its frame
- Decorate your walls with photos, drawing board or soft materials
- Hang curtains on windows
- Put some indoor plants
- Bring some furniture inside, especially the plush ones such as sofas, rugs, or beanbags.
Voices
Use Headphones or Speakers
If you cannot find any quiet environment at home, or if your room is too quiet and you notice that your ear starts ringing (for those who has slight Tinnitus), put those comfortable pair of headphones on and play your favorite sounds, it can be music, podcast, or ambient noises. Speakers can also do just fine in a quieter environment, especially in a room with a good acoustic profile. This advice is also useful when you have an online meeting, put your headphones on and tune in!
Mind the volume
Last but not least, Protect your ears and mind the volume, because having to deal with Tinnitus, even the slightest ones, and having a risk of hearing loss is not a good way to life.
What can you do to prevent it? Here are some tips:
- Before you use your headphones or speaker, try to play test tracks on the lowest volume possible. Then bring up the volume until you can hear the test track comfortably without putting any pressure to your ears. It is recommended to listen to only around 40 to 70 dBA, or 10–50% of the volume depending on the devices that you are using.
- If you plan to do long listening session during your work, whether you having a long online meeting, playing 10 hours of chill lo-fi hip-hop songs, or watching an hour long YouTube tutorial on how to create [a feature] with [framework / programming language], you should play it on a lower volume than usual.
- Take a break and tune out from whatever you’re listening to, in a recurring manner, if possible.
- Use volume limiter software / hardware if necessary.
Eventually…
Although most of us would be perfectly fine with those noises, especially the “natural ambient noise”, such as: sound of birds chirping, water slowly rushing to the fish pond, the constant humming of Air Conditioning unit and many others, knowing how to control noises around you when working at home, can create a better work environment and eventually will increase your work productivity. Your ears and your sanity will definitely thank you later.
References or Further Readings:
- Soundproofing Tips for Working From Home https://www.soundproofcow.com/soundproofing-work-from-home/
- Workplace Safety — noise pollution https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/HealthyLiving/workplace-safety-noise-pollution
- Homeworking : Tips for Controlling Noise at Home https://resonics.co.uk/homeworking-tips-for-controlling-noise-at-home/
- Seeking Mindfulness: Steelcase Study Reveals How to Help Employees Find Focus at Work. https://www.steelcase.com/asia-en/press-releases/seeking-mindfulness-steelcase-study-reveals-help-employees-find-focus-work/
- Managing music volume at work: Implement a personal listening device policy https://www.ishn.com/articles/95044-managing-music-volume-at-work-implement-a-personal-listening-device-policy
- Researchers Recommend Safe Listening Levels for Apple iPod https://phys.org/news/2006-10-safe-apple-ipod.html
- Too Loud. Too Long. https://www.noisyplanet.nidcd.nih.gov/parents/too-loud-too-long
