New research explains why you work better with TV on in the background

New research explains why you work better with TV on in the hintergrundNew research explains why you work better with TV on in the backgroundSince the invention of the open amtsstube plan, employees have been battling unwanted sound interruptions and office banter distracting them from doing their jobs. In fact, researchhighlighted in Harvard Business Review has found a lack of sound privacy is the number one thing employees list as a productivity killer - ranking higher than air quality, freezing temperatures, bad building hygiene, and cramped workspaces.If unwanted noise is killing our focus, is the solution to work in total silence? New research has found that the answer is no, we dont work best in complete silence, either.Study The perfect background noise is not too silent, not too loudA study in the Journal of Consumer Research applied the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears to ambient noise levels, and asked a group of participants completing creative thinking tests which level of ambient noise in the background was too much, too little, and just right. What they found was the group working in70-decibel levels of noise, a sound condition thats equivalent to the chatter in a caf or your television set at a normal level, significantly outperformed the total silence and high levels of noise group. The moderate-noise group generated ideas that were mora creative than those in the total silence group or the group that was hearing noise as loud as jackhammers.Researchers suggested that moderate noise is superior for creative thinking because its the noise level most likely to spark the abstract processing in our brains, which can bring out our inner Picasso. Meanwhile, too much background noise willreduce how much information can get processed in brains distracted by the sound of jackhammers.Not all noise is equalOur findings imply that instead of burying oneself in a quiet room trying to figure out a solution, walking out of ones comfort zone and getting into a relatively noisy environment (such as a caf) may trigger the brain to think abstractly, and thus generate creative ideas, the study concludes.Not all sound is noise, in other words.A separate study backed up why a person talking in the background of your the TV can help your creativity while a person talking to you face-to-face can distract you. In a study testing how our brain waves respond to sound, the researchers found that some levels of white noise helped participants creative scores while face-to-face interactions hurt creative scores.This studys conclusion suggests that the source of noise is a determining factor of when sound becomes distracting noise. We may feel compelled to listen more closely to the office chatter of our colleagues than the background chatter in cafs or television sets. You can tune out a talking head on TV, but you cant tune out what your cubicle seatmate is saying about company gossip right next to you.So next time you want to think up your nex t big idea, it may be time to head outside of the office filled with distracting humans and into a caf filled with noisy humans who blessedly dont work with you. Its one scenario where noisy chatter can give you peace of mind.