ABSTRACT

Most humans are social creatures: we want to know the people in the office around us, get along with them, talk and work with them. (Details of social interactions in the office are covered in Chapter 2). The most efficient and important way to interact is through talking and hearing; speaking and listening are, in fact, for most of us essential work tools. However, we also want some privacy, and we certainly do not want to be disturbed or disrupted by the sounds that our colleagues make, or by noises coming from phones and other office equipment, from machinery or from outside the office. If loud sounds abound, they can make us uncomfortable, even decrease our productivity and reduce our hearing ability in the longer term.