Every office, no matter how big or small has to deal with coworkers who are loud. What can be done about this? The answer truly rests in what you are prepared to do about it. Here are a few realistic pointers to help you maintain your sanity and keep a sense of calm in your office without you becoming a loser.

Noisy colleagues in the work place usually do not even know they are being noisy. Some of them may just have bad habits, while others just want to annoy their colleagues with no particular reason. In order to stop these people from being noisy, you need first to know what triggers their annoying actions.

One kind of person that you have to cope with is the one who is not aware that his or her behaviours are distracting others. Such a person usually thinks that noise in an office environment covers up his or her noise and any possible noise he or she makes cannot be noticed by others and others cannot understand he or she is doing that noise.

Take Mr. Sneezy, for instance. He's the guy that sits at the next desk sneezing repeatedly during the cold and flu season without ever covering his nose and mouth. Sure, it's extremely irritating, because you don't want to catch whatever it is he's got. Perhaps you could tell him how you feel or maybe you can be more subtle and hand him a tissue right before he sneezes each time. You could even pretend to sneeze and be sure he sees YOU covering YOUR face!

The second type is much harder to deal with; these are the people who want to be the center of attention. Often the person is trying to get noticed so that they can move up the ladder of success.

This kind of individual doesn't leave you with many coping options aside from trying to achieve a meaningful dialogue. If that turns out to be fruitless, you will have to discuss the situation with a manager. Let's face it, you will still be expected to perform your functions. And you may just find that, given the productivity-hampering activities of this difficult colleague, there may be other co-workers who are just as distressed as you are.

Every office, no matter how big or small has to deal with noisy coworkers. What can be done about this? The answer truly rests in what you are prepared to do about it. You will have to confront those that are causing distractions but don't realize that their habits are triggering a negative reaction. These types of people often feel that the noise they are making is far less disturbing than the usual office noise that occurs on a regular basis. With this type of person there is no other way to handle but to try to talk to them. Another option is to install a sound masking system.