Many people may have felt isolated after having to work from home due to the lockdown.
Some, like statistician Paul Hewson, have turned to websites that provide artificial noise that simulates workplace sounds, perhaps to help him.
These websites that provide voices like printers, coffee machines, and side chats have attracted millions since the start of the coronavirus pandemic.
Having background conversations helps me focus at work. I don't know if it's the office sounds that help me or just the feeling of human interaction," Hewson told the BBC.
Hewson has previously worked in a variety of settings, ranging from bare-walled offices to private rooms in academic settings. Lockdown, however, was the first "protracted experiment with lonely labour". He had difficulty concentrating as he remained in the same place all the time.
Skip topics that may interest you and continue reading. Topics that may interest youtopics that may interest you. End
One of his friends suggested that he try one of the online voice systems that have become increasingly popular recently. It provides a background of sounds, and allows the person to control the pitch of the voice they prefer.
Hewson found it in an office noise-saving program called Office Noise Generator.
"After about a week, I found that the sound of the printer was bothering me, so I removed it, and I can finally focus when I need to."
When the lockdown began, a number of experts set up websites to save office noise, largely as a joke or entertainment. But many employees found it useful, and the reaction was surprising to the owners of the free websites themselves.
The Belgian Stephanie Pigou, research engineer and founder of the Office Noise Generator system, told the BBC: "When the epidemic broke out and people started working from home, I launched Office Noise Generator as a joke. I did not think that someone would care about it."
But a lot of people are already paying attention and his webpage has had 200,000 views since last April.
The Voice of Colleagues, or The Sound of Colleges, has gone even further, attracting more than a million followers, including 164,000 in the UK. The site was established by the Swedish company Red Pipe Studios for sound design, after its owners suffered from a lack of work at the beginning of the closure.
"It was a reaction to a new reality we have in Sweden and everywhere else," Tobias Normann, the company's production manager, told the BBC. house, but it turns out the opposite is true.
There is also a third website called I Miss the Office, founded by the Kids Creative Agency.
"As of this morning we've had 1.2 million visits, of which 50,000 are from within the UK," Fred Wardy, who founded the site, told the BBC.
According to Stephanie Pigou, sound generators are designed to provide a grainy sound that drowns out what you don't want to hear, such as silence. He adds, "The idea is that the pleasant sound is continuous so that the brain filters the sound from conscious awareness. After two minutes, you will notice that you no longer hear it, especially if you are doing something else, such as working on the computer, but this sound will still block out the disturbance that you did not want." From the beginning".
Teenage taboos, hosted by Karima Kawah and prepared by Mais Baqi.
The episodes
The end of the podcast
Bijou says he was surprised to learn that the site also helps employees to be more productive.
It is as if the brain associates this sound environment with work, and seeks it out to enter its "comfort zone".
Norman also believes that these sounds help people feel less lonely while working from home.
And he adds, "As humans, we feel more comfortable when we are together, even if we are not involved in talking to the people around us."
For Paul Hewson, it has an added advantage, "It's another way to set boundaries for working from home. If you turn on the office sounds, it means you're at work. If you stop, you're home now."
Which European country "obliges companies" to pay part of the rent for home-based workers?
The plan to ease lockdown restrictions in England has been postponed for fear of an increase in corona infections
How did the Corona epidemic turn women's lives upside down?
© 2022 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external websites. Our policy regarding external links.
