I'm back in the office once a week and my tolerance for noise has seriously deteriorated

[BigSandyBalls2015]

Anyone else? Big open plan office, which used to have 40+ people on phones, chatting at desks, walking past etc. Been at home since March and I'm now struggling with the 10 people that are in here today .

It's not even as if I live alone …. two noisy teenagers. I used to get peace all morning, then they'd emerge from their pits and music would go on, cooking would commence. Didn't mind that, but hate this.

Open plan offices are productivity killers and it's taken companies too long to realise this.

I am not in an office but am out and about more and have noticed I am very sensitive to noise at the moment.

I had this problem after maternity leave. 13 months of quiet - then back into a Staffroom with a dozen people (visits to students in their workplace weren’t a problem though). Took about a year to get used it!

I had the opposite problem, I moved from a very busy bustling office to a very quiet one about 10 years ago and I still find the silence deafening, I really struggle to concentrate at times in such a quiet environment. I sometimes stick my earphones on and listen to music but then I miss what little conversation there is.

I'm quite sensory anyway and it has got worse in busy environments.
It's one of the contributing factors to the overwhelm I get with masks, plus the extra concentration from voices/ and non verbal communication being impeded.

I've been in twice since March.

I have always been incredibly intolerant of noise but now I have less than zero tolerance. Loud phone calls, hideous phones notifications, constant Slack tap-tap-tap notifications, sniffing, foot tapping. Can't stand it.

I have incredibly expensive noise cancelling headphones that are the only things that are stopping me from going postal!