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During an interview for one of my books, my interviewer said something I still think about often. Annoyed by the level of distraction（干扰）in his open office, he said, “That’s why I have a membership at the coworking space across the street — so I can focus”. His comment struck me as strange. After all, oworking spaces also typically use an open office layout（布局）. But I recently came across a study that shows why his approach works.
The researchers examined various levels of noise on participants as they completed tests of creative hinking. They were randomly divided into four groups and exposed to various noise levels in the ackground, from total silence to 50 decibels（分贝）, 70 decibels, and 85 decibels. The differences between most of the groups were statistically insignificant; however, the participants in the 70 decibels group — those exposed to a level of noise similar to background chatter in a coffee shop — significantly outperformed the other groups. Since the effects were small, this may suggest that our creative thinking does not differ that much in response to total silence and 85 decibels of background noise.
But since the results at 70 decibels were significant, the study also suggests that the right level of background noise — not too loud and not total silence — may actually improve one’s creative thinking bility. The right level of background noise may interrupt our normal patterns of thinking just enough to allow our imaginations to wander, without making it impossible to focus. This kind of “distracted ocus” appears to be the best state for working on creative tasks. So why do so many of us hate our open offices? The problem may be that, in our offices, we can’t stop ourselves from getting drawn into others’ conversations while we’re trying to focus. Indeed, the researchers found that face-to-face interactions and conversations affect the creative process, and yet a coworking space or a coffee shop provides a certain level of noise while also providing freedom from interruptions.

短文翻译

在一次关于我某本书的采访中，采访者说了一句让我至今仍时常思考的话。他对开放式办公室的干扰程度感到恼火，说道："这就是为什么我在街对面的共享办公空间办了会员——为了能专注工作"。这番评论让我觉得奇怪，毕竟共享办公空间通常也采用开放式布局。但最近我看到的一项研究揭示了他的方法奏效的原因。

研究人员观察了不同噪音水平下参与者完成创造性思维测试的表现。参与者被随机分为四组，分别暴露于完全安静、50分贝、70分贝和85分贝的背景噪音环境中。大多数组别之间的差异在统计学上并不显著；然而，暴露在70分贝噪音环境（类似于咖啡馆背景谈话声）的参与者表现显著优于其他组。由于效果差异不大，这可能意味着我们的创造性思维在完全安静和85分贝背景噪音下的差异并不显著。

但由于70分贝环境下的结果具有显著性，该研究还表明适度的背景噪音——既不过于喧闹也非完全寂静——实际上可能提升创造性思维能力。恰到好处的背景噪音能适度打破常规思维模式，让想象力自由漫游，同时又不至于让人完全无法集中注意力。这种"干扰式专注"似乎是处理创造性任务的最佳状态。

既然如此，为何我们如此厌恶开放式办公室？问题可能在于：当我们试图集中精神时，办公室环境让我们无法避免被他人对话吸引。事实上，研究发现面对面的互动交流会影响创造过程，而共享办公空间或咖啡馆在提供适度环境音的同时，也保障了不受干扰的工作自由。

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