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Anyone who's ever worked in a busy office knows how much office noise and conversational distractions waste company time, decrease productivity, increase the number of avoidable errors, and increase stress levels too. Recent studies prove that the common experiences of office workers are seen all over and provide employers a lot of rationales for investing in those systems which are made to decrease office noise.

Published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, a study by Cornell University researchers discovered that even small quantities of office noise led to higher levels of stress, a decline in motivation, and diminished productivity. An increased stress level, as verified by increased amounts of adrenaline in the bloodstream, is thought to contribute to heart disease and other serious health problems. Not only is there lost productivity, but employers may also be required to cover these related health care expenses.

Another study, done by the American Society of Interior Designers, found also that worker productivity declined when ambient noise levels went up. This study also found excessive noise particularly problematic in modern, open-office environments, where frail cubicles have taken the place of walled offices and electronic gadgets simply added to the noise levels.

Mixed environments in today's modern offices are particularly challenging to the modern worker. As an example, take the technical writer, who requires high levels of concentration and focus on the job, who sits in a cubicle not far from a salesman making sales calls. The salesman's calls interrupt the flow of concentration for the technical writer, decreasing his level of efficiency.

There are ways to correcting the serious problem of loud office noise. Employees who become preoccupied end up using things such as ear muffs, ear plugs or sometimes use desktop white noise machines. But, by using these things to lessen the sounds, this has caused workers to slow down in work. There are headphones which do not cause important sounds to be blocked, however, it does have active noise canceling.

The wise business decision to help with loud offices noise begins with the correct office design, proper sound insulation, or a well working installment of a sound masking system. The cost for systems have dropped quite a bit over the past years. With the information and the cost being low, a smart employer has no reason to ignore the problem of loud workplace noise.