I worked in an open office (non-cubicle) floor plan once as a call-in Tech Support Rep for AOL. It was noisy, but we all had headsets on with noise cancelling microphones. This wasn’t a job where concentration really matter. We just followed on screen prompts and basically guessed at what may be wrong with someone’s issue. Well my current employer is moving to a new building with an open floor plan. I heard someone talking about concerns over potential noise levels in our new space. Thinking about this made me do a little research. They mentioned that there may be noise generators or other noise cancelling techniques employed, but I have my doubts on their effectiveness in an open space when sound sources are right next to you.

In my research, I also found it interesting that someone put a number, although subjective, on the effect of open floor plan noise to productivity.

https://www.facebook.com/TED/posts/10152742192960652
http://www.ted.com/talks/julian treasure the 4 ways sound affects us.html

I wonder how accurate any of this is?

At any rate, I have my birds and water videos at the ready. Hopefully, I don’t have to use them, but they do work if you aren’t into music while working.

Other info I overloaded myself on:

http://www.soundmaskingblog.com/2012/04/top-10-rules-open-office-etiquette/
http://ideas.time.com/2012/08/15/why-the-open-office-is-a-hotbed-of-stress/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p01483mq
http://www.acoustics.com/ra masking.asp