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0 pointsdhimes12y ago0 comments

For me, 'white noise' - type sounds- sounds of rainfall, waves, etc. [1]- help me focus. I usually work with nothing, bu one day when working in a noisy environment I discovered that putting headphones on and listening to 'sound of nature' tracks worked very well. So well, in fact, that now when I get stuck or am just having trouble focusing for any reason I do this.

[1] I think this is called 'brown noise' these days.

0 comments

michael_h12y ago

I use:

  sox -r 48000 -n -d synth pink

with noise canceling headphones and a relatively low volume.

I also tend to listen to:

  sox -n -d synth sine %-5 sine %-14 vol 0.5

...but everyone else seems to think it's incredibly annoying.

Florin_Andrei12y ago

    play --show-progress -c 2 --null synth 01:00 brownnoise \
    reverb 19 vol 0dB bass 6 treble -3 repeat 558

Adjust bass and treble to match your headphones.

It sounds like a big waterfall, or like a continuous wave crash. And it's stereo. :)

EDIT: Or this:

    play --show-progress -c 2 --null synth brownnoise \
    reverb bass 6 treble -3 echos 0.8 0.9 1000 0.3 1800 0.25

The one with echos is a bit softer and more natural-sounding.

ajasmin12y ago

Stupid question: Is it necessary to play something through a pair of noise canceling headphones if you just want to "cancel noise" with them?

jdonnici12y ago

Not with the ones I'm familiar with (Bose QC-15). You have to turn the headphones on to engage the 'active' noise cancellation, but you don't have to be listening to anything. In fact, you can unplug the cable from the ear piece completely and still hear (not hear?) the effect.

xentronium12y ago

White and brown noises are slightly different.

You could check them out here http://simplynoise.com/

dhimesOP12y ago

Excellent link! And the terms are explained, too.

EDIT: I just clicked the link 'simply rain' on that site- that is more like what I listen to.

Diederich12y ago

These days, I tend to listen to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXtimhT-ff4

I have a music composition and conducting background, so any kind of music ends up distracting me at some level.

obtino12y ago

Brown noise helps me concentrate a fair bit. Personally, I've got SimplyNoise generating brown noise in oscillation mode which sounds a bit like waves.

quesera12y ago

> [1] I think this is called 'brown noise' these days.

Yikes. What terrible branding!

"Green noise" is better, sort of honest, and obvious.

dhimesOP12y ago

They are engineering terms, not marketing terms. The 'colors' are to give you an analogy of sound frequencies in the spectrum: White is a blend of all (audio) frequencies with equal intensities; with pink noise, the intensity falls off at higher frequencies (1/f), and with brown noise the intensity falls off faster at higher frequencies (1/f^2).

oblique6312y ago

Yep. More detail (with samples) here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colors_of_noise

quesera12y ago

Sorry, I actually knew that -- I spent a few years of my life building production studios and doing audible spectrum tests.

Cheap humor though, I apologize.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 comments

michael_h12y ago

I use:

  sox -r 48000 -n -d synth pink

with noise canceling headphones and a relatively low volume.

I also tend to listen to:

  sox -n -d synth sine %-5 sine %-14 vol 0.5

...but everyone else seems to think it's incredibly annoying.

Florin_Andrei12y ago

    play --show-progress -c 2 --null synth 01:00 brownnoise \
    reverb 19 vol 0dB bass 6 treble -3 repeat 558

Adjust bass and treble to match your headphones.

It sounds like a big waterfall, or like a continuous wave crash. And it's stereo. :)

EDIT: Or this:

    play --show-progress -c 2 --null synth brownnoise \
    reverb bass 6 treble -3 echos 0.8 0.9 1000 0.3 1800 0.25

The one with echos is a bit softer and more natural-sounding.

ajasmin12y ago

Stupid question: Is it necessary to play something through a pair of noise canceling headphones if you just want to "cancel noise" with them?

jdonnici12y ago

xentronium12y ago

White and brown noises are slightly different.

You could check them out here http://simplynoise.com/

dhimesOP12y ago

Excellent link! And the terms are explained, too.

EDIT: I just clicked the link 'simply rain' on that site- that is more like what I listen to.

Diederich12y ago

These days, I tend to listen to this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXtimhT-ff4

I have a music composition and conducting background, so any kind of music ends up distracting me at some level.

obtino12y ago

Brown noise helps me concentrate a fair bit. Personally, I've got SimplyNoise generating brown noise in oscillation mode which sounds a bit like waves.

quesera12y ago

> [1] I think this is called 'brown noise' these days.

Yikes. What terrible branding!

"Green noise" is better, sort of honest, and obvious.

dhimesOP12y ago

oblique6312y ago

Yep. More detail (with samples) here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colors_of_noise

quesera12y ago

Sorry, I actually knew that -- I spent a few years of my life building production studios and doing audible spectrum tests.

Cheap humor though, I apologize.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse