American speaker manufacturer, Bose Corporation, outlined a number of factors affected by noisy environments other than potential hearing loss or damage. We are in noisy environments constantly, whether you’re waiting for the tube on the platform or trying to think clearly in the office amidst other conversations and the rustling of papers. Though hearing loss may not occur from noisy offices, it may be affecting quite a few other things. Let’s see what Bose found out.

• Fatigue: Low-frequency background noise can cause fatigue.
• Memory: Irrelevant speech in the background can make it difficult to retain and recall information.
• Motivation: Noisy environments can produce a sense of helplessness and lower motivation.
• Work/School Performance: Errors increase with increased noise and cognitive learning decreases.
• Teamwork: Noisy environments may produce co-workers who are unwilling to help each other (probably due to irritability).
• Stress: Office noise increases the release of epinephrine, which is a stress hormone. Excessive stress can lead to a host of health problems.

It’s interesting to point out that stress is more than a minor annoyance. It is implicated in causing or exacerbating many conditions such as fibromyalgia or cardiovascular disease. In this light, you can see how reducing noise can actually benefit your overall health!

As far as the others, many of them certainly lower the quality of life. Fatigue while travelling is a major bummer when vacationing. Not being able to remember important directions because there was excessive background noise could jeopardize your job; so will lower productivity from lack of motivation, excessive errors and being crusty to your co-workers!

Whether your office employer provides earplugs or not, you can purchase some now and soon, you might just be the super-star at the office. Or, at the very least, the happiest one. Earplugs to muffle background noise and improve reception can be used at meetings (sounds like the US could use them for town hall meeting chaos!) and other situations where concentration is key.

Other than stress, the other issues may not be as devastating or lasting as hearing loss, but they still make for an unhappy way of living. When we have something as simple as foam earplugs to dull the noise and foster a more peaceful environment, it’s just an inexpensive way to improve the quality of life.