Why you shouldn't wear headphones while working

Publish Date: Jun 7 '19

41 21

There are lots of good reasons why you’d want to don headphones and listen to music while coding. They block out noise and help you concentrate. There are also a number of compelling reasons why you should not.

Disclaimer: Below is based on my own experience and may not be scientifically correct.

Here are three reasons why you should leave those headphones off:

Increased sensibility to noise : If you wear your noise reducing headphones all the time, eventually the noice free environment will be the new normal for you. It will be much harder for you to concentrate without your headphones.
Missing out on networking : At your workplace your colleagues will be talking, sharing knowledge and joking around. If you are wearing headphones you will miss out and you will create an invisible barrier between you and your peers making it harder for them to involve you.
Hearing loss :This is the most important point. I know I sound like your father but using headphones will dramatically increase the risk of hearing loss and tinnitus and neither can be cured. When I started coding for what seems a very long time ago I would put on my headphones to block away noice and concentrate. Sadly, I now have tinnitus. It is not something that bothers me in everyday life but it gets worse when I am tired or stressed out and then it is very annoying. I know that when you are young you think that you are invincible but please be careful.

Putting on headphones may be a great help if you work in an open office and the noise gets overhand. But please, please please, listen to this grumpy old man, and do it as little as possible

Comments 21 total

Adam Crockett 🌀Jun 7, 2019

Speak up I can't hear you? 😉 An interesting article I shall have to do an experiment on Monday.
- Jakob ChristensenJun 8, 2019
  
  Let me know how it works out :-)
DevadattaJun 8, 2019
Interesting perspective..
Jakob ChristensenJun 8, 2019

All valid points and I agree. I still use headphones when I need to shut everybody else out. Previously though, I put on my headphones by default. Now, the default is to not wear headphones.

Thanks for reading.
Takashi FutadaJun 9, 2019

no offense but all-or-nothing approach is not good. Occasionally headphones work while meditating. but as you said keep wearing it is not good. Everything in moderation.
- Jakob ChristensenJun 9, 2019
  
  I am sorry if you read it as an all-or-nothing approach because that is not what I meant to convey. What I did write, though, was (and I quote):
  
  please be careful
  
  and also
  
  [...] please, please please [...] do it as little as possible
  
  Thanks for reading.
  - Takashi FutadaJun 9, 2019
    
    So you might want to change the title
    'Please don’t use headphones when working'
    to something else.
    It's misleading and sound baiting.
    - Jakob ChristensenJun 9, 2019
      
      I see your point and we sure don't like click baiting. I changed the title to Why you shouldn't wear headphones while working.
      
      I hope you like it better?
Alex SinclairJun 9, 2019

Some really excellent points here! One take you might like is that a team tends to go through phases of working quietly and chatting. Which is great for getting work done, because it's naturally quiet and you'll all take a break at roughly the same time.
But in an open plan office, the team next to you may well be quiet when you're loud, and vice versa. Better office space certainly reduces the need for headphones.
And whene'er I work from home, I find I don't need them, or music, at all.
- Jakob ChristensenJun 10, 2019
  
  It's true, sometimes there is like a general consensus on when to concentrate on work and when to talk. I think it is important for the employer to think about noise when choosing interior such as carpets, furniture and ceiling.
  
  At home I sometimes put on low music on my Sonos speaker while working. It's a lot easier on my ears than headphone.
Ymi_YugyJun 9, 2019

I cannot concentrate with noise around me. So music is not an option, but just noise cancellation is certainly helpful.
Also when you are in flow and try to get things done you probably don't want to network or get interrupted and headphones show that. So maybe don't use them always, but they are certainly helpful sometimes
- Jakob ChristensenJun 10, 2019
  
  I agree headphones are helpful. Do you have a lot of noise in your office?
  - Ymi_YugyJun 28, 2019
    
    Well, I am still in college, no office, but the library where I spend a lot of time has a group work area that is quite loud and not properly separated from the quite study area.
Mukul BichkarJun 10, 2019

I truly agree about losing out on networking with colleagues. Headphones make most sense in open offices or co-working spaces like WeWork when you are trying to get stuff done and there's too much noise in the background. Otherwise, it's much better to not wear headphones and use other productivity hacks/tools like Pomodoro time-boxing etc. to get more done.
- Jakob ChristensenJun 12, 2019
  
  Pomodore is a great help. I tried it once but somehow forgot about it again.
SlaviusJun 11, 2019
Just to clear some misconceptions.

I had some doubts about your tinnitus claims and after talking to my wife (doctor at ORL) she has confirmed them. Wearing headphones cannot be linked to development of tinnitus in normal conditions.

Tinnitus can develop in the following headphones scenarios:
- You wear headphones with verly loud music for a long period of time regularly
- You wear noise cancellation headphones and remove them in very noisy environment (sudden volume change, like someone screaming into your ear after putting them down)
I'm myself a long term headphones user, metal band player, loud music seeker and I have no tinnitus whatsoever (I'm almost 40).
- Jakob ChristensenJun 12, 2019
  
  Thank you so much for your feedback and for clearing that up.
  
  It kind of makes sense now since I know excactly which day the tinnitus started: I was putting up a new fence and used a used a pile hammer to drive the fence posts into the ground without wearing ear protection. I just kind of figured that it was related to my general hearing loss. Whenever I do put on headphones my tinnitus gets a bit worse for a while afterwards.
  
  I have never been listening to loud music with headphones - only at concerts and though speakers.
  
  You must be in kind of a risk zone as a metal band player? Lots of rock musicians have hearing loss and tinnitus, right?
  - SlaviusAug 9, 2019
    
    Hi,
    
    I should have written probably I'm a former metal band player. Not drumming anymore. But I still enjoy loud hard rock/ metal music anytime I'm alone ;)
Thomas H Jones IIJun 12, 2019

Not every office includes opportunities for networking. If you work in a co-working location (or like to work from someplace like the local coffee shop), you probably oughtn't be trying to network. If you work for a large organization where they tend to assign seats on a simple "as available" basis, the people around you may be no more relevant to your work than randos at a coffee shop.

If hearing loss is a concern, one can simply don hearing-protection earmuffs or even just good ear-plugs (Eargasms are great for both concerts and noisy offices).

...And, if you worked where I work, pretty sure you'd not have written this article. Some work-spaces simply aren't manageable without something to deaden, mask or drown-out the noise. On the plus side, the usual source of noise appears to be on PTO, today.
Salor99Sep 16, 2021
It is really possible to lose hearing due to loud noise. Before using the phone, I check the noise pitch using the app. I never listen to loud music.

Add comment

Jakob Christensen @t4rzsan

Why you shouldn't wear headphones while working

Comments 21 total