How these noise-cancelling earbuds helped this S’porean salaryman stay sane at work

Like many office workers, I tend to get distracted at work.

I'd try to get myself into a state of mind where I can churn out something creative (like this piece) when I'd hear a colleague say something like:

“Hey, there's snacks from Japan in the pantry.”

And there I go.

It doesn't help that my seat is smack bang in the middle of an open-concept office, so be it conversations, doors opening and closing, colleagues laughing, coughing, sneezing or someone accidentally blasting a meme video, I hear pretty much all of it.

While I'm grateful that my office is a lively one, the chitter-chatter can sometimes take a toll on my concentration.

So to preserve my sanity, I've tried ways to deal with the annoying noises I'd experience on a daily basis:

Working from home

You'd think that working from home would help with the noise problem.

I thought so too, as I'd be alone and would have fewer people around to distract me.

But with a new Build-to-Order (BTO) project coming up in the vicinity, I'd instead be bothered by the noises of:

• drilling
• piling
• clanking
• trucks reversing
• foreman shouting in the distance

And the list goes on.

Not ideal.

Drown it out with my own music

Like many office workers, I do own a pair of wireless earbuds, which I often use to blast music in my ears while I work.

And for the most part, it does the job of preventing me from getting distracted by typical office noises.

The drawback would be that I might end up grooving along to a rock song instead of, well, doing my work.

I've also had people tap me on the shoulder because I turned up my music too loud and couldn't hear them.

I would then have to remove my earbuds to catch what they were trying to tell me:

"Eh, Daniel. Meeting in boardroom now."

"Oh yeah, sorry, sorry. I forgot about that."

So I was inclined to try a better solution.

Bose QuietComfort Earbuds

Thankfully, I got to test out Bose's QuietComfort Earbuds to try and solve the noise issues, and they proved to be a welcome change.

These noise-cancelling earbuds (S$249) are a wallet-friendly version of Bose's QuietComfort Ultra Earbuds (S$379), but still pack a punch.

Handily, they come with three noise-cancellation modes, "Quiet", "Aware" and "Off", which can be toggled with a long press on the earbud.

On "Quiet", this eliminated a majority of the distracting noises, granting me the peace and quiet I wanted.

Admittedly, there were some sounds that got through, like announcements on the MRT or the sounds of grass cutting, but at this price point, I felt that was acceptable.

And ultimately, it did make a difference in helping me focus on my work.

I also enjoyed using the "Aware" mode, which allowed me to hear what's going on without having to take off my earbuds.

It made it a breeze to chat with colleagues without having to remove my earbuds each time.

I could even have conversations with my wife in the midst of doing chores like vacuuming the floor and listening to my playlist.

Customisable using mobile app

Ergonomics-wise, the earbuds come with three sizes of eartip and stability bands. This helped them fit snugly in my ears.

The case also fits nicely into my pocket or the palm of my hand.

Users can also make use of the Bose QCE mobile app to customise touch and voice controls, tweak audio preferences, and more.

Though I'm not much of an audiophile, I appreciated the premium-sounding audio and sound clarity that the earbuds gave me in my testing.

The battery also offers up to 8.5 hours of play time to last users through a typical work day.

And as a portable device that I could just stuff in a pocket, it definitely helped to keep me sane at work.

The Bose QuietComfort Earbuds were newly released in Singapore on Sep. 26.

You can find out more about them here.

They are also available at the Bose official stores on Shopee and Lazada.

This sponsored article by Bose by One Futureworld gave this writer some rest for his ears.

Top image via Daniel Seow / Canva