Intro (skip)

It happens that a lot of us have to work in an office environment. And it also happens that an office can be quiet noisy sometimes.

In my case the work place is so loud that it impedes my work a lot. Just imagine that someone decided to put a server room next to sys-admins next to developers next to designers. As a result we are all crammed into one huge room that splits into sections.

It would not be such a big deal if not for the noise in the office:

• Every couple of minutes a new conversation takes place between people. (Sometimes its a week-long battle between group of sys admins on various topics)
• Someone decides that it is good to turn the music on. Blast it with speakers, yay!
• Calls are coming in once in a while.
• People always are walking in and out of office slamming the door behind. (Sometimes they carry carts full of hardware.)
• Someone fills-in a bottle/cup of water at a water fountain.
• Someone is printing what looks like a “War and Peace”-thick book.
• It’s a lunch time and people start calling local restaurants and dictate their orders over the phone. In office.
• Designer laughs at some video. (I am sure it’s a funny, but it does not make my problems go away)
• Someone is coughing all day. (It’s winter time and people get sick, I get it)

So the only time office gets calm is at 9 am (when no one is in yet) and at 1 pm (since everyone leaves for lunch).

And like that is not enough, by 6 pm (we are working 9-6) sys-admins start chat roulette to talk to the rest of the world.

Pretty much you cannot help the situation and to get any work done you have to work in headphones. And so I did work in them. For over a year that was fine. But time takes its toll and I started noticing that even that was not enough for me. I could not:

1. listen to deafen mumble all day
2. increase the volume because music was getting too loud
3. even listening to RainyMood or SimplyNoise on higher pitch was becoming painful

Sometimes you will fall into a stupor and have to make an effort to concentrate on a task and move on.

Path to Silence

First the idea how to achieve silence was to get a pair of plain old earmuffs. At that time I was naive to think that I would not need a serious protection. I thought that I could settle for an in-ear headphones :] But, as it turned out, you need a little bit more than that.

At that time I found SureFire’s hearing tactical protection. Long story short I have experimented with them for awhile and purchased models EP4, EP5, EP7.

SureFire’s hearing protection line of products is great, and I am lucky that I have spotted them. The big problem is that these guys have to be sturdy enough to last you for a long time. Problem is that you lose them fast. Due to both wear and since I sleep in them And the EP7 have a cushion that would rip apart within a week.

But the real gem is the EP9 model that I decided to give a go later. (~ $12)
I still wear them to work, and it’s have been for more than a year. And I also sleep in them. Close to 5 days in a week. And its much harder to lose them for their acidic blue color.

But after a day in the office I realized that I could still hear all the conversations, although they definitely became deafen.

So I needed a higher caliber weapon.

There were two choices on the market at this point:

• active noise cancellation headphones
• over-the-ear headphones

First option was not for me, because I wanted complete silence. Moreover I don’t know how damaging ANC might be. Plain old headphones sounds more like a natural/healthier choice.

And if you do search online Peltor Optime 105 come up in the results pretty often.

I decided to buy these, since they had good reviews as well as the cheap price. (~ $20)

These headphones fit pretty well, and can adjust to different head sizes. The problem with them is that although they sure do deafen sound, it is still to the similar extend as the in-ear ones.

And for me this is not enough.

But I decided to combine the two and that turned out to be fantastic. Now, when I am at work I put on both EP9 and Optime 105 and … I hear nothing! All the phone calls, conversations – just gone. Now, when someone starts talking too loud I could still hear some mumble in background. In such situations I just put regular in-ear headphones as well as Optima 105 and listen to some music. Even the low volume is enough to enjoy the silence from the rest of the world.

And funny enough people now either have to pat you in the shoulder or send you n email/chat. When boss is standing next to me and tries to speak of something, I have no clue that he is there.

That is pretty scary silence, but I can manage that :)

For everyone who enjoys silence I recommend combining over-ear-muffs with in-ear headphones.