Keyboard Noise Reduction: Possible Options

[yordan 10]

Furthermore, it might also contribute to the enhanced comfort level when the keyboard is on my legs as compared to when it is on the table.

Even when the keyboard is on the table, having a correct position, with the wrists touching the table, should finally give more comfort. Because with this position, only your fingers work, else you are tired by the effort impulsed from the shoulders.

[manuleka 0]

you could get a mic, and use voice input software to do the typing/input for you

[yordan 10]

you could get a mic, and use voice input software to do the typing/input for you

Then you will have the words "shut-up, I'm sleeping" inside your voice-inputted text.

[Ahsaniqbalkmc 0]

Even when the keyboard is on the table, having a correct position, with the wrists touching the table, should finally give more comfort. Because with this position, only your fingers work, else you are tired by the effort impulsed from the shoulders.

When the keyboard is on the table, I have tried to keep my wrist firmly on the table. However, when I try to keep the weight of the wrist on the table, I can’t type as fast as I normally do. And when I try to type faster (while I am focusing on the content), the wrists get elevated automatically. Maybe it is because I haven’t practiced much with this setup.When the keyboard is on the table, the angle between the forearm and the arm becomes nearly 0 degrees (somewhere between 0 and 20 to be exact). On the other hand, when the keyboard is on my legs, the angle between the forearm and the arm is nearly 90 degrees. I think this is the main factor why I can’t keep my wrists on the table but I can keep them on my legs. So eventually, I will have to say that the height of the keyboard is not very natural for me…. Or if it is the correct height, I am not used to it.
One thing that I want to share here is that I don’t get much tired with typing. Although I seldom type more than 1000-1500 words at a time, but I never felt the tiredness (this is after I became fluent with touch typing). Maybe when I type longer documents, the tiredness will become apparent but for now it is not an issue for me.

you could get a mic, and use voice input software to do the typing/input for you

In fact, I have tried such software. The name was “Dragon Naturally speaking” by nuance. I lent it from a friend to test it (I hope that’s not illegal). But I was never satisfied with it. The primary issue was that the accuracy was not very good. Maybe its because I am not a native English speaker and the accent is strange so the software has a hard time understanding it. But the thing that matters the most is “it didn’t work well for me”. At that time, the main purpose was to see if I can write documents faster this way as compared to typing with keyboard. And because of the errors, the time taken was much more than typing with keyboard. So I decided not to go for it.However, in the scenario of “keyboard noise reduction”, the software would certainly eliminate the noise of the keyboard completely, but on the other side, it would add the noise of speaking. And the ultimate goal of “silence” would not be achieved. So I don’t think it’s a good think for noise reduction because you have to speak to it (quite loudly) and this would never help with noise reduction.

Then you will have the words "shut-up, I'm sleeping" inside your voice-inputted text.

Ha ha ha…. That’s funny but true. In fact, some strange text might appear because I would be told “shut up, I am sleeping” in the local language, and there is no way the software would recognize it………………

[yordan 10]

When the keyboard is on the table, the angle between the forearm and the arm becomes nearly 0 degrees (somewhere between 0 and 20 to be exact). On the other hand, when the keyboard is on my legs, the angle between the forearm and the arm is nearly 90 degrees. I think this is the main factor why I can’t keep my wrists on the table but I can keep them on my legs. So eventually, I will have to say that the height of the keyboard is not very natural for me…. Or if it is the correct height, I am not used to it.

Sorry, I can't understand that.

Except if your position sitting in front on the table is not what I am thinking.

Is your feet/chair/table/keyboard layout like on this image ? That way it should be, if not something is wrong somewhere.

 

When you sit on the chair your feet touch the floor, your back is vertical, your hands are horizontal and without any effort lay on the table.

[manuleka 0]

how much typing do you really do though to produce such noticeable nuisance to others?

[Ahsaniqbalkmc 0]

The picture was really illustrative @yordan. And I am assuming that it is the posture that should be maintained while typing.My current setup is a bit differet from the one shown in the picture.When I sit on my chair, the feet do firmly touch the ground so this part is ok. However, even when I am sitting straight, as the character in the picture, the angle between the forearm and the arm is not 90 degrees (in contrast to the angle shown in the picture). And most likely this is the main reason why I can't put the weight of my wrists on the table.So the big qestion for me is that why the angle between the forearm and the arm in my case is not 90 degrees. Most of the times, I may not be sitting straight as the character in the picture but even when i do sit straight, the angle is not 90 degrees.Comparing the distance between the legs and the table shown in this picture with my case, I can surely say that the height of the table should also be not a problem. So there are only two things left that could cause the problem..First is my sitting posture and the second is that the chair probably is too deep (in terms that my when my back is in touch with the back of the chair, the horizontal distance between my belly and the near end of the table is greater than what is shown in this picutre. So eventually, to a reach out for the keyboard, I have to extend my arms)I will try to look out further into the problem....

[Ahsaniqbalkmc 0]

how much typing do you really do though to produce such noticeable nuisance to others?

It is not the amount of typing I do that cause the problem... Actually it is the timing of my work. So when the other person in my room is asleep, even if i type as little as 200 words, I would have caused enough noise to wake him up... and that is what I don't want to do and that is why all these ideas and all this research is going on....

[Ahsaniqbalkmc 0]

There is an update.....

I have got my hands on a wireless keyboard (a copy of the apple wirelss keyboard). This one has a shallow key travel and produces significantly less noise as compared to my current keyboard.

However, for some unknown reason, the frequency of typing errors increases tremendously, and the typing speed reduced considerably when I use this keyboard. Maybe its because my current keyboard (the one which I have got used to) has a rather strange layout of keys (as compared to other normal keyboards). But I have to say that the frequency of typing errors is significantly less with this this strangel layout.

Anyhow, I have decided to give this wireless keyboard some time and see whether I can make the typing speed and error frequency similar to what they are with the current keyboard.

[manuleka 0]

i really don't think there is a way of silencing ones typing on standard keyboards, you would have to really search for a keyboard with rubbery keys or a keyboard with a touchscreen like keys...

[Ahsaniqbalkmc 0]

I would love to silence the keyboard completely, but that is very difficult to do practically. This new apple style keyboard has done a great job in noise reduction. Instead of the heave "thak thak" of the old keyboard, the noise now produced is feeble "click click", which is much more bearable. The overall intensity of the noise has also decreased significantly. So ultimately, this keyboard would do fine for me unless I find another solution that would decrease the noise even further.I think after changing the keyboard, the next thing I should work on now is my typing style. I would soon post a topic about my typing speed not increasing further than 60 WPM and I strongly feel that it is because of my typing style. So by changing my typing style, I would get two benefits: first the noise will be reduced and second, my speed would cross 60 WPM mark.One thing that I want to mention here is that this new keyboard has somehow made me reduce the force on my fingers. I mean, I am pressing the keys more gently now. Maybe its because of the lessened key travel or something else but I certainly feel that I am pressing the keys more gently now. I just need to practice on decreasing the lift of my fingers while typing, so that instead of hammering the keys from far above, I just press them while moving swiftly around the keyboard.hope this goes easy for me....

[manuleka 0]

i guess you can improve your typing with practice and time, but i don't think it possible to totally silence typing... unless you get hold of a touch screen like keyboard

[Ahsaniqbalkmc 0]

With my current style of typing, I don't thing touch screen like keyboard would be completely silence either. I hammer the keys quite hard so even the glass of the screen would produce some tapping sound....But that would be the case when there is a full sized keyboard where I can use all my fingers. On smaller virtual keyboards (like in smartphones), the thumbing (typing by only using the thumbs) doesn't produce any sound. But the speed is not even comparabale to what I achieve on normal keyboards.

[Ahsaniqbalkmc 0]

So after using the then new (now quite old) keyboard for some time, I realized one thing. The number of mistakes I made on that apple keyboard clone were way too many as compared to what I make on the a4thech usb keyboard. And I am more than certain that this is because of the layout of the keys.

 

The apple clone appears to have a normal layout. But I make more mistakes than I am supposed to make on a normal layout keyboard for instance the keyboard of my laptop. I don't understand why are there so many mistakes. Maybe its because of some major contribution from the small travel distance of the keys.

 

On the other hand, the A4tech keyboard, which has a slightly slanted layout of keys, turns out to be pretty accurate for me. And what's more important is that I feel more comfortable typing on it. So its fast, its comfortable and there are less mistakes. The only problem is the problem of sound.

 

So from the past month or so, whenever I can compromise on the noise produced, I use this A4tech keyboard, and when I really have to reduce the typing noise, I unpleasingly use the Apple clone wireless keyboard.

[yordan 10]

Where is the sound really coming from?

What happens if you raise the keyboard in the air, is the sound still loud?

On the keyboard I use, the sound seems to be mainly coming from the table. So, the solution would be (for myself) putting some soft isolation between the keboard and the table (not my bedroom pillar because I could use it for sleeping on the table instead of typing on the keyboard )