My personal experience - the acoustics of open offices are generally awful. The past two days in a row, for example, have started with me actually saying out loud "what the hell is that sound?!" to my neighbor after hearing some weird-ass HVAC squealing/squeaking/screeching sounds.
No partitions, lots of collaboration, no noise cancelling.
HVAC noise is a constant, but not in any helpful way.
I can hear people 40 yards away having a conversation - not the contents of it, but I hear voices, and yes they are totally distracting.
My personal experience - the acoustics of open offices are generally awful. The past two days in a row, for example, have started with me actually saying out loud "what the hell is that sound?!" to my neighbor after hearing some weird-ass HVAC squealing/squeaking/screeching sounds.
No partitions, lots of collaboration, no noise cancelling.
HVAC noise is a constant, but not in any helpful way.
I can hear people 40 yards away having a conversation - not the contents of it, but I hear voices, and yes they are totally distracting.