The Benefits of a Quiet Workspace

Being streetsweeping day today, I left for work early this morning. When I got in, most people hadn't arrived yet and it's a generally peaceful time. But today, the test engineer guys are reconfiguring the lab that is next door to my cube. While doing so, they had shut down all the computers, power supplies, and flight displays that are usually constantly running, with their cooling fans droning on at all hours of the day.

It's truly amazing how much noise those fans make and how much it actually affects you. I've noticed before that I can't sit in the lab for too long or else I'll get a headache from the noise. It's bearable from my cube, but still annoying. But this morning was pure workplace bliss. Too bad it can't last, and even now, most of it is back up and running, fans and all.

If we could figure out a way to silence the fan noise, I wonder how that would affect people's moods and productivity?