Block Out Office Chatter with ChatterBlocker™
Noisy neighbors derailing your train of thought?
Party pandemonium penetrating your brain?
Detailed discussions of messy medical conditions making you quite queasy?
Maybe you need...
What’s a ChatterBlocker?
First of all, ChatterBlocker is not a massive former football player who terrorizes talkative types tampering with your tranquility! Instead, it’s a new software product designed to reduce the distracting effects of office noise, which studies show can raise stress and lower productivity. According to the ChatterBlocker web site,
ChatterBlocker masks unwanted chatter using a soothing blend of nature sounds, music
and background chatter. The goal is to render speech less intelligible, because intelligible
speech is often the most distracting sound in the workplace.
The extensive and informative web site also lists ChatterBlocker’s features, some of which are:
- Auditory masking minimizes intelligibility of unwanted speech
- “Digital sound files help blur unwanted speech with sounds that are similar in frequency, but not distracting. The result is a low, soothing murmur that fades to the back of your awareness. Many workers report increased relaxation and concentration.”
- Users can create their own mix of nature sounds, music and background chatter
- “ChatterBlocker includes digitally encoded audio loops in three categories: Voices, Music and Sound Effects. You can play any number of tracks simultaneously, or choose from presets designed to neutralize common types of noise. You can also create new presets or even add your own music files and playlists. ... ChatterBlocker includes the comforting sounds of ocean waves, bird songs and babbling brooks. These sounds help mask unwanted chatter; they also relax unnecessary tension so you can concentrate on your work.”
- Meditation tracks improve the ability to focus and relax in the presence of noise
- “When you need a break, play the built-in mindfulness meditation tracks. These are designed to help strengthen your natural ability to focus and tune out distraction. They’re also a great way to clear and refresh your mind between work sessions.”
- Works with speakers or headphones
- “ChatterBlocker works well at surprisingly low volume levels in most cases. You can raise the volume for noisier environments, but you don’t have to “drown out” sounds to get relief from them. Also, most people find ChatterBlocker less distracting than music.”
I did a brief trial using ChatterBlocker with speakers to see if they would bother co-workers and if they would be as effective as headphones.
Based on this test, I consider headphones better than speakers because speakers would have to be played at a relatively high volume to mask nearby conversations; besides, speakers make all the usual Windows sounds (beeps, boops, bongs, etc.) audible to you and everybody else, which can be quite annoying.
How do you get it to work?
You can get it to work in lots of ways: throw it in your purse in the morning, put it in the car the night before, or help save the planet and take it with you on the bus!
All kidding aside (well, maybe only some of it), ChatterBlocker works by using a control panel, shown in its Easy mode in Figure 1.
Figure 1 ChatterBlocker control panel: Easy mode
In Easy mode, you can select from a drop-down menu of presets (specific combinations of different sounds), like the Music & Nature Sounds 1 preset shown above. You can also pause or play the selected preset and adjust the master volume. Clicking the Advanced button takes you to ChatterBlocker’s Advanced mode control panel, shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2 ChatterBlocker control panel: Advanced mode
ChatterBlocker’s Advanced mode lets you select individual sounds and adjust the volume level for each category of sound. A variety of sounds are available: 11 Voice sounds, 16 Music sounds, and 14 Sound Effects. Each of the sounds will loop continuously, and any number of the sounds can be played simultaneously in any combination. According to the ChatterBlocker web site, you can also “drag & drop” your own audio files and playlists into the sound menus, but I haven’t tried that yet.
ChatterBlocker comes with 11 standard presets, such as the Music & Nature Sounds 1 preset shown above. This particular preset is suggested for masking medium-loud conversations, and includes the sounds highlighted in gold: "Airy Chords" and "Percuss" music and "Creek" sound effects. You can also select your own combination of sounds to create a custom preset. Once you name it and save it, the custom preset will appear in the Presets drop-down menu along with the standard presets.
Oh, no! Not another computer thingy! Wouldn’t something else be just as good?
Gee, I just can’t imagine why you wouldn’t want yet another computer thingy, but the answer to this question is: it all depends. Some people are able to block out workplace noise on their own, while others use headphones and loud music to drown out distractions; those folks probably don’t need ChatterBlocker. However, those methods won’t necessarily work for everybody (including me), so a different approach to blocking noise must be taken.
First, I tried using closed (over-the-ear) headphones with a high noise reduction rating (32 dB) and listening to a CD of ocean surf sounds. This worked a little too well—I couldn’t even hear my telephone ring! To block noise effectively, these headphones clamp tightly against your head. Unfortunately, that makes them very uncomfortable to wear for more than an hour, so clearly this approach wasn’t going to work.
Then I researched noise-canceling headphones, which essentially work by detecting external noises and then generating “opposite” sounds to counteract them. This technology has generally gotten good reviews, but these rather expensive (as much as $300) headphones seem to work best in situations where there is constant sound, such as on an airliner or near continuously running machinery. Noise-canceling headphones reportedly also produce a small but definite pressure on the eardrums, which can be a problem for some people (like me), so this idea wouldn’t work, either.
Since I work in a “Dilbertland” of cubicles on the 3rd floor of the Evans Library Annex, I also investigated some general rules for cubicle etiquette, like those found on the Bremer Communications web site. I thought that these rules were well written and might appeal to others as well. However, I realized that it would probably take some time to get such rules implemented (if ever), especially since the rules could potentially affect a large number of people. I needed more immediate relief from noise problems, so this possible solution was also discarded.
Finally, while searching the Internet I happened to find the ChatterBlocker web site. All the information on the web site sounded pretty good to me, so I got permission from Systems to download a demo of the software. This demo really impressed me, so Systems purchased the full-featured version of ChatterBlocker and let me try it out for several months.
C’mon, now. Does this thing really work?
Sure it does. Right after I downloaded ChatterBlocker to my computer, everyone in the vicinity of my cubicle got really quiet—at least for a little while. Seriously, ChatterBlocker works well primarily because its designer, Earl Vickers (“The Sound Guy”), is an accomplished audio engineer with extensive experience in the field. He is also the author of an interesting paper on workplace noise and distraction, “Coping with Speech Noise in the Modern Workplace.” This comprehensive paper presents ample evidence that the fundamental principles behind ChatterBlocker are very effective at masking workplace noise, reducing stress, and improving concentration.
I think what makes ChatterBlocker uniquely effective are its human “chatter” voices. These six voices (male or female, speaking in low, medium, or high pitched tones) resemble what you might hear at a large gathering of people, all chatting away such that none of their talking is clear to you. Since the voices are unintelligible, they are not distracting because your brain doesn’t try to make sense of them any more than it would try to make sense of the sounds of ocean surf or a babbling brook. In addition, because their sound frequencies cover the range of normal human speech, the chatter voices effectively mask co-workers’ conversations, so your brain isn’t distracted by trying to figure out what everyone around you is talking about.
But does it really, really work?
Of course, I can’t possibly speak for every single person on the planet, but I can tell you that ChatterBlocker really, really works for me. It so happens that I am rather uniquely qualified to evaluate ChatterBlocker because last year I was diagnosed with a condition known as Asperger’s Syndrome.
In medical terms, Asperger’s Syndrome (Asperger’s or AS for short) is a relatively mild form of autism, a disability that affects a person in the areas of social interaction and communication. Autism is considered a “spectrum” disorder, which means that symptoms can be very different for each individual having the condition. Asperger’s lies in the so-called “high-functioning” end of the autism spectrum and may not be easily detectable in some people. Because Asperger’s isn’t contagious, isn’t terminal, and might not even be noticeable to others, some “Aspies” don’t bother disclosing their condition; however, I figure most folks around here already think I’m a pretty weird sort of guy, so they might as well know why!
In my case, one of the symptoms of Asperger’s is extreme sensitivity to sounds, especially people’s voices. While most people can generally ignore workplace conversations or office commotion, I am completely unable to tune out these distractions to the point that at times it becomes very difficult for me to stay focused on my work. This can cause me a significant amount of stress, especially when I’m trying to unsnarl a difficult cataloging problem, design a complex macro, or build a complicated database query. Happily, I found that when using ChatterBlocker, I’m better able to concentrate on my work, and I am not quite so stressed at the end of the day. If ChatterBlocker works for an Aspie like me, chances are pretty good that it would work for just about anyone.
With the variety of sounds offered, chances are also pretty good that there’s a ChatterBlocker combination that would work just for you. My choice is to combine all six “chatter” voices (male/female, low/medium/high pitch) and the “Concentration” music (classical music selections) along with the “Babbling Brook” and “Rain” sound effects. This combination is very much like listening to an outdoor concert near a gently babbling brook, while sheltering from a rain shower under a big tent with a large group of chatty people. Surprisingly, I don’t find this combination of sounds the least bit irritating, and I have comfortably listened to it while working for hours at a time.
ChatterBlocker seems to work just as well with either headphones or earbuds, but you would likely get the best sound blocking with closed headphones. I use ChatterBlocker with a comfortable set of closed headphones that have a built-in volume control, and this set-up has worked very well for me. The volume control has been especially useful because I can quickly adjust the sound level according to how much noise there happens to be around my cubicle.
Sounds great! How do I get ChatterBlocker for myself?
Getting ChatterBlocker for yourself is really pretty easy—just send me $100 in small, unmarked bills, and I’ll see what I can do! Alternatively, the ChatterBlocker web site offers a free demo of the software. First, get your supervisor’s approval to try out the demo, and then submit a request to the Systems Helpdesk to have a technician install the demo on your computer. The demo version has fewer sounds than the full-featured version, and it’s limited to only 60 minutes total playing time, but that should be enough to give the software a good try-out and to see how you like it.
If you like the demo and want to get the full-featured version of the software, just let your supervisor know. ChatterBlocker comes with a 60-day unconditional money-back guarantee, so there’s no big risk if it turns out that you don’t like it. At $19.95 a copy, ChatterBlocker is fairly inexpensive, and if enough people want it, Systems could possibly get a site license agreement that would make it even cheaper. However, instead of also asking for a new set of headphones to go with ChatterBlocker, it would be better to use it with your own personal headphones. That way, you can use the type that you like the best, and the Systems guys won’t have to deal with any grubby used earbuds when you win the lottery and move to Tahiti!
Are we there yet?
Stick a fork in it, this review is almost done; all it needs is a summary, like the ones your English teacher always made you write. If you need to block out office chatter, give ChatterBlocker a try and see if it works for you as well as it has for me. ChatterBlocker lets me concentrate on my work and lowers my stress level, all without anyone else in the office having to change their usual behavior to accommodate my sensitivity to noise. Based on my successful experience, I highly recommend ChatterBlocker as a well-designed, uniquely effective software product that attains a rare achievement: it actually does exactly what it’s supposed to do.
If you have any questions about ChatterBlocker or anything else mentioned in this review, feel free to contact me anytime by e-mail (pbump@lib-gw.tamu.edu) or by phone (458-1327). You can even stop by in person, if you like. If I happen to be using ChatterBlocker with my headphones, just knock on the desk to attract my attention, and I’ll quickly take my leave of the rainy-day concert crowd in the big tent by the babbling brook.
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