Do You Crave Silence and Privacy in Your Office?

A friend of mine is about to move from a real office -- with a door -- into an "open workspace." An open workspace, of course, is a euphemism for a cubicle, though perhaps worse -- these cubicles enclose four people within its fabric walls, so there's no privacy or escape, well, ever.

It was with that in mind that I ran across Noise at the Office: How to Cope in the Harvard Business Review. The article has some interesting statistics. For example, studies show that chronic bombardment by loud noise at work isn't good for blood pressure or the cardiovascular system.

That might be somewhat obvious, but another study has found that noise and the lack of speech privacy are the biggest complaints of office workers. That suggests it isn't just the loud stuff that's the problem, it's the death by a thousand cuts of routine office noise that is particularly frustrating.

If you want some relief, check out SimplyNoise, a free Web-based service that can play three different "colors" of sound - white, pink, and brown noise - to help mask distracting office sounds.

While you chill to some pink noise (that's my favorite) in your cubicle, take this poll and weigh in on the challenges you face in your office: