From colleagues who insist on putting all their calls on speakerphone to others who eat at their desk with the same lip-smacking intensity of a lion devouring a young deer, the office can be a noisy place.

Offices are places where people come together to exchange ideas and do their duties: this creates a soundtrack of people walking, talking, printing and occasionally, getting involved in heated arguments.

Open plan offices, especially, tend to increase ambient noise. True, open layouts contribute a lot to the corporate environment: they enhance collaboration, boost productivity and have helped us get rid of those hated cubicle layouts. However, if not enough thought is invested in their design, they can be counterproductive and their effectiveness drowned in a whirl of office chit-chat, microwave pings, humming photocopiers and other annoying office noise.

However, let’s not take open offices back to the drawing board. Their effectiveness can still be maintained by tweaking the design, investing in insulation and upholding friendly office policies. That way, an open space will become every employee’s comfort and working zone.

Open spaces are very good at what they do: enhancing collaboration and facilitating the exchange of ideas. However, some office tasks demand a greater level of concentration: rather than dedicating your entire footprint to an open layout, allow some closed space for tasks that are more demanding. Also, since phone calls are one of the biggest noise culprits, introduce innovative design elements such as phone booths where employees can make all the calls they want.

Choice of materials is also critical. Avoid extensive use of hard surfaces, which do not absorb sound. Cover hard wood or tile flooring with carpets and ceilings with acoustic tiles. Curtains and other soft furnishings are also very effective. The more noise-absorbing materials you use, the less impact loud conversations and general office noise will have.

You can also turn to nature for help. Plants not only add a bit of nature to your office but they can also help reduce ambient noise levels. Plants are nature’s sound absorbers: a hedge of plants reflects and absorbs sound while adding a pleasant aesthetic. Just make sure that someone assumes the responsibility of watering the plants.

Insulation is also a great solution that improves ambient noise levels. If you’re renovating your office, then go for a major intervention such as reconstructing walls with large air gaps between them and adding insulation to the exterior and interior walls. There are various materials you can use such as cork, felt, rockwool, mineral wool and even soundproofing paint.

For minor, but still effective, interventions, you can invest in double insulated windows to block out exterior noise and thick internal doors and sound absorbent wall panels for the interior. Technology also provides plenty of solutions. Sound masking devices emit a sound spectrum that normally covers noise which is 15 to 20 feet away. These white noise generators create artificial levels of background noise which are designed to respond to the specific acoustical qualities of a space.

They will not block out sound completely – however, sound masking devices are very effective at reducing ambient noise.

Design, technology and furniture can all help in making an office that little bit more friendly on the ears.

However, keep in mind that ultimately, an office isn’t just aphysical space: the most important element is the human one. So if your colleagues are a bit too loud on the phone or play their music too loudly, speak to them.

And if you’re doing something that requires all your concentration, then inform your colleagues accordingly. When you ask politely for what you want, you will find that most people will try and cooperate. You can also collaborate together to draft some office policies, such as taking personal calls outside the office and not using speakerphone unless absolutely necessary.