[willquack]

I learned the other day my office building has hidden speakers dispersed throughout each floor which blast synthetic white noise.

It's quite loud, I had assumed it was an improperly installed HVAC system...

[crazygringo]

This is extremely common and is a feature.

Without it, suddenly you can hear every conversation happening all the way on the other side of your open plan office. It becomes extremely distracting.

[speed_spread]

It's a cost saving measure warranted by open spaces. We used to have walls and closed offices instead.

[mdavidn]

My building has this too. I wear noise cancelling headphones with no music to eliminate the white noise.

[teach]

I have bad news for you -- those noise-cancelling headphones are "eliminating" the white noise by bombarding your ears with an equal and opposite white noise

[BLKNSLVR]

The HVAC system occasionally stops at my work, in the rare occasion I'm working late in the office, and the silence is profound and divine.

It only lasts a couple of minutes, and it's a frustrating reminder of how fucking loud the baseline office noise is as a result of just the air movement of the HVAC.