Balancing Flow and Collaboration: Exploring Visual Noise Cancellation in Mixed Reality Workspace

In open-plan offices, visual noise from surrounding people and objects can negatively impact both concentration and mood. Mixed Reality (MR) offers a promising approach to address this challenge by reshaping the workspace. In this paper, we first conducted a survey with 50 office workers to examine the impact of visual noise, identifying common sources of distraction and potential mitigation strategies. Considering the necessity of face-to-face communication in office environments, we designed adaptive user interfaces to strike a balance between deep focus and seamless in-situ collaboration. We utilized Virtual Reality (VR) and Diminished Reality (DR) methods to eliminate visual noise and leveraged face orientation along with a distance threshold to determine collaborative intentions. We developed a prototype system and conducted a user study for evaluation. The results indicate that our system can create a tranquil workspace to foster concentration and workplace well-being, while maintaining necessary in-situ collaboration. These findings provide valuable insights for designing future MR-integrated office environments.