Marissa Yu works in a busy office, surrounded by 120 co-workers in a mostly open space. Yet when she has a question, needs an update or tries to reach some of her colleagues, she might as well talk to the wall。
瑪麗莎•余(Marissa Yu)是休斯敦建筑工程公司PageSoutherlandPage的室內(nèi)裝潢主管，她在一個嘈雜的辦公室里辦公，近乎全開放式的辦公環(huán)境中有120個同事環(huán)繞在她的周圍。然而，當(dāng)她想問個事、了解點情況或叫某個人時，卻屢屢碰壁。
'You call their name one, two, three, four times, and they're not responding,' says Ms. Yu, director of interiors in Houston for PageSoutherlandPage, an architecture and engineering firm. 'You dial their extension and they're not picking up. Pretty soon you're throwing rubber bands across the wall.'
Michael Stravato for Wall Street Journal休斯敦建筑工程公司PageSoutherlandPage的辦公室內(nèi)，有四分之三的員工戴著耳機工作�，旣惿f，“你叫他們的名字三四遍，卻得不到一點反應(yīng)。你打分機過去，他們不接，最后你只好沖他們?nèi)酉鹌そ睢?rdquo;
The culprit: ear buds playing music and noise-canceling headphones. Roughly three-quarters of Ms. Yu's co-workers wear them, and they're increasingly becoming de rigueur ear-wear in offices throughout the country. Many people argue that headphones are good at blocking distractions. And while a few employers ban their use, most tolerate it as a way for employees to regain some privacy in an open-plan office。
造成這種情況的罪魁禍?zhǔn)资牵簡T工在用耳機聽音樂，或戴上降噪耳機免受干擾�，旣惿s有四分之三的同事戴著耳機工作，耳機也正成為美國各地辦公場所的一樣必備工具。許多人認(rèn)為，戴耳機有助于減少外界干擾。雖然有些公司禁止員工在工作時戴耳機，但大多數(shù)公司還是默認(rèn)了這種行為，以便讓員工在開放式的辦公環(huán)境中重新獲得一些私人空間。
Research offers little support for the idea that listening to music improves concentration, says Robert Desimone, director of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research at MIT. In one of several small Taiwanese studies, listening to music with lyrics was linked to lower scores on tests of concentration in a study of 102 college students, published online earlier this year by the journal Work. In separate research, listening to hip-hop music was linked to a significant reduction in reading-test scores, based on a study of 133 adults published in 2010 in the Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning。
麻省理工學(xué)院(MIT)麥戈文腦科學(xué)研究所(McGovern Institute for Brain Research)所長羅伯特•德西蒙(Robert Desimone)表示，幾乎沒什么研究結(jié)果可以證明，聽音樂有助于提高注意力。臺灣做過幾次小研究，其中對102名在校大學(xué)生的一次研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，聽歌曲反而會降低他們注意力測試的成績，該報告于2012年初發(fā)表在電子期刊《Work》上。另一項對133名成年人的研究顯示，邊聽嘻哈音樂邊做閱讀測驗會大大降低考試成績，該報告于2010年發(fā)表在《教育學(xué)學(xué)者雜志》(Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning)上。
A third study of 89 students ages 19 to 28, led by researchers at Fu Jen Catholic University in Taiwan, found that workers who either loved or hated music being played where they were working scored lowest on tests of attention, compared with workers who didn't have strong feelings about the music or who worked in rooms without music. People naturally pay more attention to music they strongly like or dislike, hurting their ability to focus, the study says。
臺灣的天主教輔仁大學(xué)(Fu Jen Catholic University)對89名19到28歲的學(xué)生做過一項研究，發(fā)現(xiàn)一邊干活兒一邊聽自己喜歡或厭惡的音樂會導(dǎo)致注意力測試成績排名最末，還不如聽一些自己無所謂的音樂，或根本不聽音樂。人們會很自然地把更多注意力放在自己喜歡或不喜歡的音樂上，因此無法專心做事。
In the office, listening to music with lyrics while trying to read or write can distract employees by overtaxing verbal-processing regions of the brain, neuroscientists say。
神經(jīng)學(xué)家表示，在辦公室一邊聽歌曲一邊閱讀或?qū)懽鲿屇X部的語言處理區(qū)負(fù)擔(dān)過重，導(dǎo)致分心。
The prefrontal cortex, the brain's control center, must work harder to force itself not to process any strong verbal stimuli, such as catchy lyrics, that compete with the work you're attempting, Dr. Desimone says. The more cognitive work required to screen out unwanted input, the fewer cognitive resources remain for the task at hand. And the longer you try to concentrate amid competing distractions, the worse your performance is likely to be. 'Attention takes mental effort, and we can get mentally tired,' he says。
德西蒙博士說，前額皮質(zhì)是腦部的控制中心，一個人在從事工作時，如果前額皮質(zhì)受到語言類刺激，如好聽的歌曲等，就很難控制自己的注意力不出現(xiàn)下降。腦部要動用更多的認(rèn)知能力來排除不需要的信息，用于手頭工作的腦部認(rèn)知資源就會減少。腦部努力控制注意力不分散的時間越長，你的工作效果就可能越差。德西蒙說，“集中注意力需要花費心思，因此容易出現(xiàn)精神上的疲勞。”
Individuals respond differently to music, scientists say. For some, a familiar piece of music without lyrics can serve as a sound-blocker, helping screen out a colleague's loud voice. 科學(xué)家說，每個人對音樂的反應(yīng)不同。對有些人來說，一曲熟悉而沒有歌詞的音樂能起到聲音屏障的作用，把周圍同事嘈雜的聲音過濾掉。
Using noise-reducing headphones can be an even stronger aid to concentration. Headphones can screen out as much as three-fourths of office noise, says Steven Orfield, president of Orfield Laboratories Inc., an architectural design, research and testing company in Minneapolis. But when you take them off, 'for a couple of minutes, everything is going to sound way too loud for you' while your ears adjust, Mr. Orfield says. 'You may be speaking louder' to others。
降噪耳機對避免分散注意力具有更強的作用。明尼蘇達州明尼阿波利斯市(Minneapolis)建筑設(shè)計、研究及測試公司Orfield Laboratories Inc。的總裁史蒂芬•奧菲爾德(Steven Orfield)說，降噪耳機能過濾辦公環(huán)境中多達四分之三的噪音。然而，一旦取下耳機，奧菲爾德說，耳朵有一個適應(yīng)的過程，“在頭幾分鐘時間里，你會覺得周圍實在是太鬧了。你對別人說話的聲音可能也會很大。”
Noise-canceling headphones, which were developed by Bose Corp. for use by airline pilots more than 20 years ago, are often marketed to air travelers; they work especially well on planes because they help cancel the low-frequency rumble of jet engines. In an office, they may help quiet the higher-frequency sounds of speech and other ordinary activity, so 'the user enjoys a controllable, comfortable level of loudness,' says David Reynolds, a facility management consultant in Jackson, Miss. This reduces fatigue for some people, he says。
降噪耳機是20多年前伯斯公司(Bose Corp。)為飛行員研制開發(fā)的，客戶群通常定位為飛機乘客。這種耳機在飛機上尤為管用，因為它有助于減少耳朵聽到的飛機發(fā)動機的低頻噪音。密西西比州杰克遜市(Jackson)設(shè)施管理顧問戴維•雷諾茲(David Reynolds)說，在辦公室，降噪耳機能在一定程度上隔絕人們說話或從事其他日�；顒铀鶐淼母哳l噪音，“讓使用者能把周圍聲音的分貝控制在一個舒適水平”。
But headphones or ear buds can cause resentment among co-workers. Their use was cited as a major office-etiquette problem in a 2010 survey of 1,400 chief information officers by Robert Half Technology。
然而，頭戴或入耳式耳機有可能給同事之間帶來摩擦。2010年Robert Half Technology公司對1,400位各企業(yè)的首席信息長做了一項調(diào)查，發(fā)現(xiàn)戴耳機工作是一個主要的職場問題。
Micki Washington, 33, a project manager at PageSoutherlandPage, says she needs music to work but tunes in to instrumentals or Brazilian jazz, with lyrics in a language she can't understand. (Music with English lyrics can be so distracting that 'I'll have a tendency to sing along.') She plays louder, faster music in the morning to help her wake up, and softer, classical tunes when she needs to concentrate on a proposal。
33歲的米琪•華盛頓(Micki Washington)是PageSoutherlandPage公司的項目經(jīng)理，她說自己需要在工作時聽音樂，喜歡器樂和聽不懂歌詞的巴西爵士。(帶歌詞的英文歌曲很容易讓人分心，因為她“不由自主就會跟著曲子一起唱”。)每天早上，她會播放一些快節(jié)奏的音樂，把音量調(diào)高，作為喚醒自己的一種方式。當(dāng)她集中精力撰寫報告時，會聽一些輕柔的古典音樂。
'That's how I operate. I have to have some kind of background sound,' she says。
米琪說，“這是我的工作方式，需要有一點背景音樂。”
Employees at PageSoutherlandPage are free to do 'whatever aids productivity,' says Kurt Neubek, associate principal. While the company's open-office plan aids collaboration, 'everybody needs heads-down time, and putting on headphones is an easy way to do that.'
PageSoutherlandPage公司合伙人科特•紐北克(Kurt Neubek)說，員工在這方面自由度較高，“只要有利于提升產(chǎn)能”。雖然公司的開放式辦公有助于內(nèi)部協(xié)作，但“每個人都需要有不受干擾的工作時間，戴耳機是個不錯的方法。”
Patrick Ramsey, 24, a software engineer at Name.com, a Denver-based Internet domain-name registry and Web-hosting company, also listens mostly to instrumental music on ear buds, but only when he is writing code. Music interferes when he tries to write email or document summaries, but its 'repetitive beat' helps him with the logical, step-by-step process of programming, he says。
24歲的帕特里克•萊姆錫(Patrick Ramsey)是丹佛市互聯(lián)網(wǎng)域名注冊及托管公司Name.com的軟件工程師。他只在寫代碼時戴上耳機，主要聽一些器樂。他說自己在寫電子郵件或報告時，聽音樂有干擾作用，但“重復(fù)性的節(jié)奏”有助于他在編程時理順?biāo)悸罚徊揭徊竭M展下去。
He focuses so deeply that he almost jumped out of his skin when his boss, Bill Mushkin, tapped his shoulder recently while he was tuned into his favorite jazz-reggae group, Thievery Corporation。
有一天，萊姆錫一邊工作，一邊聽自己最喜歡的爵士雷鬼樂隊Thievery Corporation的音樂，他工作得非常投入，老板比爾•姆希金(Bill Mushkin)在身后拍他肩膀時，把他給嚇了一大跳。
Mr. Mushkin, Name.com's founder and CEO, says he just wanted to say hi and ask Mr. Ramsey for one of the bananas on his desk. He lets his 30 employees work in whatever way is best for them, he says. 'The challenge is giving them what they need to do their jobs without letting the whole place go completely insane.'
姆希金是Name.com的共同創(chuàng)始人及首席執(zhí)行長，他說自己只想跟萊姆錫打個招呼，問他要一根桌子上放著的香蕉。姆希金說，他讓30名員工以最適合自己的方式來工作，“這樣做的挑戰(zhàn)是，既要滿足員工需求，讓工作出成效，又要避免讓整個辦公場所變得混亂不堪。”
The trend toward open office design, with low or no partitions and lots of glass walls, can increase distractions and has made headphones more popular. Projected 2012 unit sales of headphones and earphones are up 41% since 2008, the Consumer Electronics Association says, and many of those new purchases will wind up at the office。
開放式辦公的趨勢會導(dǎo)致隔間減少或消失，或用上很多透明的玻璃 ，這可能導(dǎo)致員工受到更多外界干擾，因此戴耳機工作變得越來越流行。據(jù)美國消費電子協(xié)會(Consumer Electronics Association)的預(yù)測，2012年入耳及頭戴式耳機的銷售量將比2008年增長41%，許多購買者都是上班族。
Alan Henry once sat at a cubicle on a previous job positioned between a conference-room door and the front door for the entire office, he says. Traffic past his desk was so heavy that he wore noise-canceling headphones, glossy black 'Beats by Dr. Dre,' nearly 70% of the time. When two co-workers grumbled that Mr. Henry was unapproachable, he explained his code: If they approached him and he removed the headphones from only one ear, he didn't have time to talk. But if he took off the entire headset, that 'means I have time, and pull up a chair,' says Mr. Henry, 32, of Washington, D.C., a writer for Lifehacker.com, a software and personal productivity site。
32歲的艾倫•亨利(Alan Henry)是華盛頓特區(qū)軟件及個人效率網(wǎng)站Lifehacker.com的程序員。他說自己從事上一份工作時，坐在辦公室大門和會議室中間的一個位置，每天有很多人經(jīng)過他的桌子，他不得不在70%的工作時間里戴上一副黑色的“Beats by Dr. Dre”降噪耳機。有兩個同事嘟囔說亨利不好接近;對此，亨利解釋了他的原則：同事來找他時，如果他摘下一只耳機，說明沒時間講話;如果把耳機全部摘下，說明“我有時間，挪把椅子過來聊聊吧”。
