Noise-Cancelling Headphones

[blueerica]

I like my co-workers, I really do, but as a 'non-manager' I'm stuck out in the cubes in between two people who are on the phone a lot. Now, I understand that their jobs require them to be on the phone, but one person in particular tends to go on speakerphone, have bizarre ringphones, and laughy-laughy jokes, then call her kids, ajfkdlsa; fjkasdl;

But, I do like her a lot, and don't really have the heart to tell her to STFU, especially since most of her talking/noise is work-related... I'm just stuck sitting between the wrong people, and there's no where else to really move myself. I can't get work done, particularly when I need to concentrate. It's at the point that my iPod isn't working either. Music helps, but too loud (to block it out), and I'm distracted by that.

So, I've been thinking about noise-cancelling headphones. Or earbuds. Anyone have experience with these and/or have any recommendations? I realize that some amount of the conversation, etc., won't be 'cancelled,' but something's gotta be better than nothing.

I just can't take it any more.

[Moonliner]

Originally Posted by blueerica

I like my co-workers, I really do, but as a 'non-manager' I'm stuck out in the cubes in between two people who are on the phone a lot. Now, I understand that their jobs require them to be on the phone, but one person in particular tends to go on speakerphone, have bizarre ringphones, and laughy-laughy jokes, then call her kids, ajfkdlsa; fjkasdl;

But, I do like her a lot, and don't really have the heart to tell her to STFU, especially since most of her talking/noise is work-related... I'm just stuck sitting between the wrong people, and there's no where else to really move myself. I can't get work done, particularly when I need to concentrate. It's at the point that my iPod isn't working either. Music helps, but too loud (to block it out), and I'm distracted by that.

So, I've been thinking about noise-cancelling headphones. Or earbuds. Anyone have experience with these and/or have any recommendations? I realize that some amount of the conversation, etc., won't be 'cancelled,' but something's gotta be better than nothing.

I just can't take it any more.

I have the bose. They are great for white noise like computer humm or jet engines. Voices not so much. In fact if you are just using the noise cancellation by itself it can help emphasise the chatter by dimming down the background noise.

[Snowflake]

How about hearos, ear plugs?

[Kevy Baby]

How about going postal with an AK-47?

[BarTopDancer]

I have Shure e2c. They blocked out the drone of jet engines and the screaming baby on our way back from WDW.

Pricey, but worth it.

[mousepod]

The problem with "noise canceling" headphones is that since they have to generate a soundwave of opposite polarity to the one they're canceling, they work best with continuous sounds (plane engines, for example). They tend not to work as well with speech or random noises. For those, you need something that blocks the offending sound, as opposed to actively "canceling" it.

[blueerica]

I could just cancel the sound...

[Alex]

Frequent use of speaker phone in a cubical environment should be discussed with her, in my opinion (sometimes it just can't be helped but that should be the exception).

Otherwise I second or third what has been said. Noise canceling headphones work great, just not for your purposes.

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by BarTopDancer

I have Shure e2c. They blocked out the drone of jet engines and the screaming baby on our way back from WDW.

Pricey, but worth it.

I have the predecessor to the Shure SCL3 and one thing I like about them is that they "plug" your ear pretty good (Shure provides multiple ear inserts). While this doesn't completely block out voices, they do a pretty decent job.

[Kevy Baby]

Originally Posted by Alex

Frequent use of speaker phone in a cubical environment should be discussed with her, in my opinion (sometimes it just can't be helped but that should be the exception).

Yeah: on this point, you should talk to the person about it. If kept casual, there shouldn't be an issue.

I have someone in my office who does it frequently and I bring it up every time he does it (as do others). We have a pretty good-natured environment, so it is easy for us to give him a hard time about it.