Noise pollution

Ubiquitous headphone use continues – but what are the risks?

Many workers are struggling with chronic exposure to noise in their workplaces. Noise pollution in an open-office environment has become so common that seemingly every workplace is filled with people who have earbuds permanently glued in.

It may not be obvious how much all this constant background noise feeds into stress levels. Office workers typically endure low-intensity noise for eight hours a day, which could become a great deal more intense during, say, a daily rush-hour commute. A small study from Cornell University showed open-office sounds seemed to increase adrenaline levels, the trigger for the body’s fight-or-flight response.

Habituation to noise and other poor working environments is common, but few employees will complain. With open-office layouts now so ubiquitous, it can be difficult for workers to gripe about raised levels of noise and interruptions. But there are knock-on impacts. Noisy workplaces have, in part, led to more than one-third of workers feeling disengaged, according to a 2016 study across 17 countries by furniture company Steelcase.

The best way to cope, ironically, may be to add more noise into the mix – in the form of white, pink or brown noise – which dampen jarring changes in noise by streaming a continuous background sound to our brains.

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Image credit: Piero Zagami and Michela Nicchiotti.