Noise, Cognitive Function, and Worker Productivity [pdf] | Hacker News Reader

Noise, Cognitive Function, and Worker Productivity [pdf]

joshuatdean.com

123 pointsingve28 comments

"An increase of 10 dB reduces productivity by approximately 5%."

I'm surprised it isn't more. As someone who is particularly distracted by noise and interruptions, I usually have some music without lyrics playing in noise cancelling headphones whenever I'm in an open office environment.

The real question is when are companies going to pick up on research like this and make changes to maximize productivity. What do offices at FAANG look like?

The study examines a factory workplace which may already have a high-level of background noise. Perhaps the effect is non-linear? Anecdotally, two or three coworkers talking near me doesn't feel more distracting than one coworker on the phone.

Well, the dB scale is already deeply nonlinear. Adding a 50dB conversation to 40dB ambient noise results in… 50.4 dB total noise. Add two more people each talking at 50dB (at the same time!) and the total noise is about 55dB.

Also, not all noise are alike.

My productivity increases with regular brown noise -- it "covers-up" the irregular traffic and train noises outside my apartment so my brain doesn't pay attention to it. Brown noise is also pleasant to the ears.

Music: it depends. Any kind of forgettable music like muzak or background instrumental/classical helps. But anything with lyrics distracts me because it engages the language processing part of my brain -- I need that part to do my work. But I know many people who can work while listening to rock and roll.

Also the article makes a difference between cognitive function and effort-task performance.

If I was a mechanic or someone doing a mechanical task, I wouldn't mind blasting heavy metal in the background -- it gives me a "metronome" to sync to. But I wouldn't do the same if I was a tax accountant where I need the cognitive headspace to do careful work.

If we create a quiet office environment, everybody gets to pick their preferred noise via headphones.

I worked as a cook for years while I was younger. There was always a radio on (this is like 1980s-90s). Typical blue collar environment with tons of noise from machinery, raucous people, and the radio.

While doing prep work for the next meal time the music didn't bother me at all (so go through various fridges and the menu and make lists of tasks to prepare then execute on the list interrupted by deliveries, dishwashers quitting in the middle of their shift, and so on - peel carrots, chop onions, clean squid...).

While working the actual rushes on the line (preparing individuals meals to order as part of a team, timing courses to go out and maximizing throughput) the music was extremely annoying to me. My coworkers literally would go crazy without it so it stayed on but it was a major problem for me.

I eventually left cooking for comp sci (long story involving a health condition and a privileged life allowing me to do this) and discovered "psytrance". Finally, I understood how music could make you more productive. Since then I've gotten better at tuning out music with lyrics but it still bugs me when coding or writing.

Between psytrance and something like Nhar [1], I find myself much more productive with the latter.

However, that may be because I've burned up my psytrance reserves over the past few years.

[1]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcX_3kLWXEk

I wish I could turn to the same genre of music to increase my performance. Like you lyrics are out with exceptions (for some reason I can sort of tune out vocal trance), but some programming I find lend itself well to something like bossa nova, while others I need something highly repetitive like house, and I can't determine ahead of time which will be better. And what really throws me is that usually something like funk will slow me down, but there are times it's the only thing that works. This would all be fine, if I could just roll through the dial, but it takes at least 15 minutes before I know, and it's distracting messing with music until I find something suitable. usually I opt for no music if I'm somewhere quiet, even if there's a good chance music might make me more productive.

Classical music doesn't work for me. It's far too interesting and I'll catch myself pausing my work cause I got distracted by it! Same with jazz and the like.

It has to be some repetitive music/noise so it doesn't catch my attention.

> I'm surprised it isn't more. As someone who is particularly distracted by noise and interruptions ...

That may partially explain why you find the results surprising.

Here is one way to formulate this. You are an information processing machine with certain throughput. Article says 10 dB worth of energy going into your ear causes an average of 5% decrease in your throughput, in the form of processing cost to filter irrelevant bits out. What we don’t know is what that 10dB stimulus is representative of. 10dB of baby crying vs 10dB of equally distributed, unpatterned brown-noise vs 10dB of low frequency predator sounds are by definition are not going to get assigned the same attentional saliency and will have different processing costs. Furthermore, your individual processing machine will accrue certain biases throughout, so same stimulus will not have the same processing cost for everyone. A typical example would be combat PTSD biasing processing towards gunfire, so it would cost more to filter out fireworks later on. In sum, there is a lot of aggregation and averaging going on in this calculation and this is why %5 feels too little a cost for 10 dB.

It's as good a time as any to plug mynoise: https://mynoise.net

I follow tips from memory champions. I use industrial strength earmuffs, a 3M Peltor model, AND soft earplugs. It gives me almost total silence.

The earmuffs are also good as a signal to your coworkers that you are concentrated. They will interrupt you less.

About memory champions training: https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/interactive/2011...

Btw, the author's book is really nice.

> The earmuffs are also good as a signal to your coworkers that you are concentrated. They will interrupt you less.

You'd think so...

Music that is too enjoyable seems to take over the creative part of the brain. Try to do some deep focus work with your favorite music playing; impossible. Now, if you are doing a repetitive task, then that type of music is perfect. Creative energy gets sapped by any music you enjoy too much.

I've also heard that interpersonal intimate relations (lol, sorry) also will sap creative energy.

I'd also agree with others that a constant noise is much better than random/surprising noises as far as being able to ignore it. People bursting out in laughter in the office is definitely surprising noise, so are phones ringing and someone knocking on the door.

I'm not sure "enjoyable" is the right variable here. Definitely for creative work you want music that won't attract your attention, but that doesn't have to mean unenjoyable. It could be repetitive (like say a Philip Glass composition, which many people would still find enjoyable), or for some people it could be something you've heard enough to memorize and can predict perfectly.

>for some people it could be something you've heard enough to memorize and can predict perfectly.

Totally agree with this. For me there's a particular recording of an instrumental concert (Casiopea vs T-Square, if you're curious) that is incredibly enjoyable if I'm paying attention, but I have it basically memorized at this point. Listening to it helps me get into a working rhythm, and then I'll blink and realize I was deeply focused for over an hour (based on the point in the recording when I actively notice it again).

You're right about the distraction, but music I really enjoy gives me energy. So I usually pick 3-5 songs a day I like and put them on repeat while working.

Minimal techno, progressive house, and other non-vocal music works best for me.

I'm shocked people are able to handle vocals in their music -- any words in music instantly drag my attention away.

I sometimes have trouble even with beats/pulsing - that can break my concentration at times. I use non-vocal jazz or electronica stuff, but mask with brown/grey noise on top, and that seems to be the best mix, but I find when beats are too noticeable... I notice them.

There is a barrage of noise coming from a construction site next door to my apartment while I try to work from home. To block out the noise completely I do three things at once:

- Soft foam earplugs

- Noise cancellation headphones (Sony WH1000XM3) over the earplugs

- White noise playing through the headphones

With this I can block out almost any amount of noise. The white noise can be turned up to any level necessary to drown out the sound. With the earplugs and noise cancellation headphones I usually don't have to turn the white noise up too loud and I forget that it's on.

A few years back, I had a particularly loud neighbor who had a subwoofer directly against my bedroom wall, the same wall my bed was against. The layout of the room precluded moving the bed against any other wall. I own the predecessor to the WH1000XM3 you have, which were at the time arguably the best active noise cancelling headphones on the market in terms of the efficacy of the active noise cancelling. They did a fantastic job of covering up the sudden bass hits of the subwoofer, but when my neighbor got especially rowdy the bass could still slip through. I've worn earplugs to sleep for years, so I had some handy, and thought if the headphones weren't enough, headphones plus earplugs might be even more effective. When I tried them together, I was surprised that I could now hear the bass more clearly. I hadn't considered that active noise cancelling works by producing "anti noise" which has an identical amplitude to the noise it is trying to cancel, but an inverted phase. By wearing earplugs, I was blocking out the anti noise which was cancelling out the noise of the bass. I might as well have been wearing regular headphones over the earplugs. Since you're also using brown noise, maybe the earplugs are still providing you some benefit, but consider testing without them.

Noise is a strange thing. I've worked in open plan offices my entire career.. specifically on trading floors. These places are renowned for people shouting and screaming... I've found that my level of focus on something really matters what the task at hand is..

If it's coding, I need a good steady drone of noise.

If it's reading I need silence.

The choice of background noise really matters as well:

CNBC is a terrible choice for noise because the variability in cadence and the sound effects are very distracting. It's all designed to attract your attention.

NPR on the other hand is just perfect for having in the background as there aren't many "highs" or "lows".

Having said that, I recommend investing in a bose quietcomfort noise cancelling earbuds. These give you some bit of control on your environment. I haven't tried the latest airpods, but I hear (pun) good things..

I feel like I'm over-sensitive to sounds and noises. I can hear someone's Facebook message ding over my noise-canceling headphones while listening to music, and it bugs me. Not sure how I get affected productivity-wise, but I am definitely more prone to lashing out at people or sending angry emails when there are too many of these things.

Also, if you have your sound turn on, are in an open-space office, you keep messaging someone and your messenger keeps making loud sounds, that's incredibly rude and I think very poorly of you.

The sound notification definitely compounds on the distraction. Not only is there the jarring sound or ringtone but the brain's knee jerk reaction of hatred for lack of respect of others around them. I've grown to hate the door knocking sound that Samsung uses.

Oddly when a phone is vibrating, even if left on a solid surface, I don't find it nearly as distracting.

Agreed

I can't stand music while engaged in any level of critical thinking. I suffer from misophonia - I need quiet all the time.

This is a major reason why I work remote, office environments are a disaster for me.

I think I am basically the same. I can go literally weeks without noise as long as I'm productively working. I don't miss it.

Eventually the silence does get deafening but it usually only takes a short trip to a mall or something for me to be refreshed and not want sound for another several days.

I'm incredibly sensitive to it.

Yes, noise is bad when you’re trying to focus and it’s the worst when you’re trying to relax.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com