One way many people cope with a random environment while working is to listen to ambient sounds with headphones. The recent backlash against open office space and a Harvard study pointing to the open office fad being a disaster hasn’t yet had a chance to reverse the tide: we typically work in environments where we can be easily distracted by coworkers, sudden random sounds, conversations, and of course, digital distractions. Think muted conversations, the clinking of the coffee mugs, the hiss of the espresso machine, gentle laughter, rustling leaves or rainfall outside the window…īut most of us don’t work in coffee shops or libraries. Often there’s a steady and moderate level of background noise that remains static and mostly non-intrusive. But there’s also the environment itself, and one notable characteristic of these spaces is how they sound. That’s part of it – community is indeed powerful. What makes a coffee shop or library an effective place to work and be productive? Is it the fact that we’re surrounded by peers – caffeinated creators at laptops who are also hammering out code, a blog post, business plan or studying for that life-changing exam?
