Headphones address the individual perception of noise for the wearer. They do not solve the outbound audio quality problem — background office noise remains audible to remote call participants regardless of the caller’s headphone use. They do not provide an enclosed focus environment. And as the Interface research shows, 44% of employers currently do nothing to address noise — leaving employees to self-manage with headphones as the default workaround. Headphones are a personal tool; pods are organisational infrastructure. The most effective approach deploys both, with pods addressing the high-priority call and deep-focus use cases and headphones supplementing ambient noise management at the desk.