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Shut up already!

07/05/2009 | By Rob MacKay
Active Sound Cancellation
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Working from home has MANY benefits, being able to call your hours (most of the time) and being close to the family who are only just a few steps away.  Unfortunately this can also be a problem!  Babies crying, children moaning television on, its all not conducive to a good working environment really.

So how do you combat this?  Well if you have an office, you could soundproof it.  Empty egg boxes are meant to be a good idea.  You could also go for ear defenders, I knew a guy who worked in an office who had a pair of ear defenders so he could escape the background noise.  He also wore a very ill fitting cardigan and smelt of burning hemp but that’s beside the point!

Noise at home can be a real problem, I know it is for me, so the best solution lives in science.  Noise cancelation.  How it works is the sound coming from the surrounding area is captured and basically played back over itself, this cancels the sound wave out meaning you hear nothing.

If you want to read more about it have a look here.

So how is this going to help you at home?  Well you can get sound cancellation in headphones!  The headphones actively cancel out the outside noise leaving you in silence, and enable you to hear your music at whatever volume you like because there is no need to drown out the background sound.  Genius.

Unfortunately I had to go for just a good comfy pair of headphones, that will cancel out some sound but wont be as good as active cancellation, the reason is because my wife still wants to be able to call me… lol

How do you avoid distractions of sound while working from home or even in the office?  Have you got a pair of these magical headphones?

More Articles By Rob MacKay

Author: Rob MacKay

28 year old father of 3 and husband of 1. Web design is my thing and gaming is my passtime! :) Tweet me @svgrob


8 Comments

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Andrea La Valleur

July 23rd, 2009

and you get to look like a pilot! :P

[Reply]

stevegmag

August 12th, 2009

You’re wife can IM you. You’ll hear the ping through the headphones.

[Reply]

Shelly

September 14th, 2009

I’m a woman, wife, and mother. I have a mental “off” switch. It’s built in. I think it’s powered by estrogen though, because I don’t know many men who have it. I’ve been told mine is quite powerful, actually. XD

[Reply]

Steve

January 21st, 2010

I’ve been working happily at home for almost 3 years now as a freelance designer and photographer. I have my own office, and a solid set of headphones (nothing special, just some comfortable Microsoft Lifechats, and also a set of Skullcandy INked earbuds (9$ at Staples).

Headphones, and a large library of music.

My two little ones (6 and 4) are homeschooled, so they’re at home quite a bit. As much as the distractions are kind of crazy sometimes, I think about being on lockdown in a cube, and not having them near me, and it makes the occasional slam of a door or loud outbursts of singing WAY more tolerable. I love having lunch with my kids, and I always tend to slip in the occasional “now remember guys; after lunch I have to commute back to my office, and I need to concentrate… so try to keep quiet, ok?”

It works about 60% of the time.

It’s all good, and I’m home. There’s nothing better, and I want to keep it this way as long as I can. Better to hear your own munchkins going wacky in the afternoon than some douchebag in the cube next to you rambling on about America’s Top Model, or Dancing with The Stars, etc.

[Reply]

Rob MacKay Reply:

Yea I have to agree – all in all this is the best way to exist haha :) Homeschool though – you are something special… School is the best way to get the peace for me :D

thanks for the comments everyone :)

[Reply]

media designer

February 1st, 2010

I’m a man, husband and father. I have no off switch because I prefer to be aware of what’s going on around me.
How do I focus? I timeshare- I give my children short amounts of attention throughout the day so they don’t feel like they have to be on my lap until Mum gets home.
Sometimes that works. Getting up earlier and working after my wife is home works too.

[Reply]

Kelly

February 25th, 2010

I also work from home. I actually send my kids to school during the day but my hubby works from home too (both corporate companies, believe it or not). I usually end up using my Bose headphones – they aren’t noise cancelling, but they do the job.

It’s great advice – oh yeah and make sure you have an office with a door so you can close it if needed. I don’t have one of those but when we get our next house you can bet it will have a door on the office next time. :)

[Reply]

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