An office worker usually requires to be focused on a task, or multiple tasks at once. This requires a list of optimal conditions, including a quiet workplace, and comfortable room temperature. Achieving this with a regular fan can be pretty hard since most of them make a lot of noise. Considering that coworkers may produce noise of their own, you may want to look into other solutions.
But why is it so important to have a quiet environment? According to this article, noise can affect an office worker’s mental and physical health. Be it machines, coworkers chatting, construction sounds, or any sound effect lingering around, these annoying sounds can lead to a reduction of productivity and stress as people are trying to focus on something.
For a company, stressed coworkers unable to focus on their tasks is a no-no. This can directly affect the way an employee deals with a customer or complicated situations that may arise. No one wants to do a good job while being in a bad mood.
And, believe it or not, constant noise in a workplace can cause health problems, according to research. For example, it can affect heart rate and blood pressure.
It can also affect someone’s mental wellbeing, which can lead to an incredible amount of other side effects, including tiredness, insomnia, demotivation, headaches, and much more.
If you don’t believe me, you can check https://krisp.ai/blog/background-noise-and-productivity/ to get more information about how productivity is affected by annoying sounds.
With that said, how do you fix it? Well, there are certainly lots of methods to do it, depending on the problem. If you are dying to have a fan in your office, but don’t want to have to deal with the annoying sound that comes out of it, you should get yourself a quiet fan.
What’s a Quiet Fan?
Well, as the name obviously implies, it’s a fan that produces little to no sound. They are portable most of the time and some of them are usable with your PC since they come with a USB cable. The great thing about them is that they can get the job done without any annoying sounds, and they are pretty inexpensive, too.
Thing is: which one should you get? With plenty of models and brands to pick from, it can be hard to choose the right one.
With that said, we’ve got some recommendations. We are going to showcase a couple of fans with the courtesy of https://soundproofpros.com/best-quiet-desk-fans/ reviews. You should totally visit it for more fan recommendations.
- The Vornado Zippi Personal Fan
This one is $20, has two-speed settings, and is pretty viable for large rooms. The good thing about this one is its design. It is really small and portable. Its compact design is due to the fact that it has no protective case, but no worries! The blades are made of soft cloth nylon and can be safely touched even when the fan is on.
The only bad thing about it is that you’ll need a portable battery to use it outdoors since it requires a power outlet to be used.
- Honeywell TurboForce Air Circulator Fan
This one is bigger than the previous one and has three settings instead of two. This allows you to decide if you want it in a low setting for fresh days or a high setting for hot ones. It counts with a grill case to protect you from the blades, and is pretty much a medium-size fan, just without the noise. A really good option if you are looking for something powerful.
White Noise Fans
White noise is a special type of noise used to cloak other sounds and is proven to work wonders when it comes to relaxing someone from the utter silence of a quiet room, or the annoying noises coming from outside. Some people use white noise fans to deal with sounds that they consider annoying. There are several types of white noise fans, though, and you should do your research to find the one you like the most. A great recommendation is to pay attention to the location you’ll be using the fan in so you won’t have problems with limited space.
Now, If Your Problem Is Only Sound.
If you are only dealing with sound and annoying noises around your workplace, there are other solutions you can try. For example, if you are someone who likes to work with nothing more than peace and quietness, I recommend you use earplugs. You’ll be alone with your thoughts, and that’s a good thing for some people, but not for me.
When I work, I usually listen to music to concentrate. Believe it or not, music can help you concentrate. This is due to the fact that our brains can’t pay attention to the same thing for a long period of time. It needs a distraction, but a distraction that doesn’t affect our proactivity.
Apparently, our brain has two attention systems, the conscious one that focuses on the task at hand, and the unconscious one that is constantly focusing on external stimulus. The first one is linked to reasoning while the second one is linked to emotional reasoning. When the unconscious attention system gets interested in something, it directly affects the conscious one. With the right music, you can keep your unconscious attentive system distracted with something while you concentrate on a task, without drifting attention away from it.
But, according to this article, you have to know what music to listen to. Apparently, video game music is the best one to improve your productivity and concentration. A video game soundtrack’s main purpose is to create an immersive experience that helps you feel one with the world you are enjoying, without distracting you from the game. This is usually done with music that contains no vocals, but instrumental songs. Lyrics can get you distracted, that’s why they are not usually used. And, as a personal opinion, it works wonder when you want to concentrate on something!