I sit in the loudest office on earth. Actually it's a cubicle, which contributes to the noise level greatly by virtue of it's open air top. It would be nice also if the main printer for our section weren't across the row behind me, because everyone seems to congregate there and talk.

Around here you don't actually need a printing station - it's perfectly acceptable to talk loudly in any aisle, and since my cube is at the end of a row and group of rows I have aisles on 3 sides - two of them major thoroughfares.

A few years back I worked in a building that used to be an old PC assembly structure. It shared a lot of the same qualities of a warehouse, none of which are conducive to programming. The cavernous nature of the building would amplify any sound and the building itself seemed to make plenty of them, from the thrumming of the heat and A/C to the bells and whistles that would randomly go off half a dozen times a day. My team was also seated next to the marketing guys with only 3 foot high cube walls to separate us.

I thought THAT was loud. This is worse.

I suppose that somewhere in the heart of the mass of cubes it settles down to a dull hum, but here on the edge traffic is considerable. Just a few days ago a cube mover was pushing a squeaky-wheeled cart down the aisle and the pitch of the wheel squeak was like fingernails on a chalkboard. I had to cover my ears and hum while I had flashbacks of Eddie Murphy plugging his ears and yelling "I'm not listening to you!"

I often picture myself standing up and just yelling at the top of my lungs "Can't you people see that others are trying to work here?! Keep it down!" I imagine they would stop and in all the complete and utter silence I would sit back down behind my protective cube walls, only to have the buzz resume seconds after my butt hit the seat.

I'm sure you're aware that when you're sleeping your senses are greatly desensitized. Some have difficulty waking up under bright lights and shaking, but the sense that is the most active during sleep is hearing. Sound is hard-wired into our brains. Try shining a flashlight into your spouses eyes while she sleeps. Now try yelling. Now try running.

Perhaps that's why so many people fall asleep at their desks? In an attempt to cut down on their sensitivity to noise? Perhaps these loud office environments are a not so subtle attempt at keeping us awake?

The problem isn't typically that we want to sleep - it's that we want to program. At Intel there were numerous signs in every isle that asked you to keep the noise down. All cubicle walls were five feet tall. Ceilings were high enough that no one felt claustrophobic, but not so high that they reflected conversations from halfway across the room. They valued peace and quiet as a way to gain productivity.

Aside from putting up signs or being a hall monitor there probably isn't much you can do to change the general environment where you work, but is there anything you can do to cut down on the noise?

The act of decreasing sound is commonly referred to as "noise cancellation" and falls into two general categories: active and passive.

Active cancellation is the science of reducing sound by recording the sound and then "flipping" the waves with a playback mechanism that cancels out the original wave. This type of cancellation is much more difficult to achieve but can be very effective in a loud environment.

The classic example of active cancellation involves a sine wave. In figure 1 below we have a standard sine wave which represents a sound you might hear in your work environment. If you work where I do that's a very real possibility…

Figure 1: Sine Wave

Figure two represents the same sound, but with the exact opposite wave overlaid on top. Sound is very mathematical, so if we could get these two waves just perfect they would literally cancel each other out to our ears. You can try this experiment at home with two stereo speakers: take one speaker and reverse the polarity on it so the positive lead is plugged into the negative output and vice versa. (I take no responsibility if you blow your speakers by the way.) Put the two speakers as close together as possible and stand back about 10 feet while listening to your favorite tunes. The sound won't go away, but it will sound muffled. It's even better if you can listen in mono mode instead of stereo.

Figure 2: Sine Wave with Cancellation

In practice this is nearly impossible to do, but many companies have come darn close. In the auto world Lotus Cars (yes – of Esprit and Elise fame) pioneered active cancellation technology for their supercars, but down here on earth there is an option within reach of many of us: the Bose QuietComfort® headphones. While not cheap these headphones do provide a high level of cancellation while being very comfortable. The downside is that you still have to listen to something.

Passive noise cancellation is the method by which sound is not cancelled, but merely prevented from reaching our ears at all. Ear plugs are the most common and effective example of this. I would prefer this method because I program best in a very quiet environment, though it's also difficult to achieve.

I tried wearing earplugs but after a while they hurt my ears. I tried 20dB earmuffs but I could still hear squeaky carts. I even tried listening to music on earbuds with the earmuffs over them - and that worked. But it started to hurt my ears too. For now I just listen to music loudly, or even better my copy of Psychologically Ultimate Seashore.

I wonder how my cube would look with cork or egg crate foam on the walls? Shag carpet? Curtains? There are plenty of companies on the internet willing to sell you sound deadening materials.

Is your company this loud?

Great. Now someone set off the stairwell exit alarm (also next to my cube). Like that isn't annoying. If only Les Nessman's tape actually worked.