This is why I built https://noisify.xyz (for myself mainly)
You should really use a crossfading version of the sample.
Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level
71–80 of 158 posts
Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level
#72Earlier quoted context omitted.
>If it were an actual instinct, I would possess it as would essentially all people. I do not possess that instinct what-so-ever. I don't think it's necessarily valid to expect that all peoples have evolved the same set of instincts. Particularly given adaptation to vastly different environments over the last 200k or so years after leaving africa. This particular instinct would not likely be a prerequisite for surviva…
Or OP is simply the kind of person who would end up dead 200k years ago. But a more civilized world allows them to survive and potentially thrive. Technology (especially medical) and civilization are forces that act against evolution; to the extent that they probably seek to stop human evolution.
I don't disagree - call it the uniquely human tendency for self-domestication.
Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level
#73I've worked in private offices, cubicles, open plan offices, coffeeshops, libraries, and now many many hours in home both when other family members are around and when they aren't. I spend a lot of time thinking about sound and focus. The conclusion I came to is that humans have a few emotional needs in order to reach deep focus: 1. We need to not be distracted and we need to feel certainty that we will not be distra…
The waiter asking every 10 minutes if I want more coffee or would like to order something/ is everything alright is quite distracting though?
Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level
#74Earlier quoted context omitted.
Sounds like you guys haven't established any work boundaries. It can be impossible if both of you work. But if not.... I've worked at home for about 17 years now. I have a 6 year old, two 3 year olds, and my wife is a stay at home mom. I don't get interrupted, and there's never been an age range where I would regularly get interrupted. At the most frequent, maybe once per week. Definitely not even once per day though…
You may have established boundaries, but you almost certainly have your wife to thank for 99% of the enforcement of them.
Was about to say, it's very easy to establish boundaries if you have someone enforcing them for you
Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level
#75I am Deaf myself and using my hearing aids all of my life. One thing I discovered that silence is the best productivity focus for me. During my job, I always keep my hearing aids off. This helps with my ADHD as I am easily distracted when there is a sound involved, sometime causes me to ‘hyperfocus’ in my “world” than doing my job. And interesting that I found that keeping my hearing aids off makes the time around me…
That is quite an interesting difference from me. I have to have sound or else there is absolutely no chance for me to focus. Primarily music with a lot of bass. Podcasts are bad though as that requires paying attention. Perhaps the music serves to block out other possible distractions. If you make me sit around in silence, I will be all over the place and unable to focus. It feels like I require some level of sensory…
Funny enough, I learnt from my partner (who is hearing) that hearing peoples do not like silence or anything that are too quiet. If there is a silence between the sentence or words, people often will instinct-ly fills those silence with fluff words like “um”, “mm”, “well” to be still in turn of the conversation. If there is a silence, they will assume that it is their turn to initiate the conversation further. Deaf communities don’t use that kind of nuances and it is a culture shock for me to learn how hearing people MUST have sounds anywhere.
Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level
#76Earlier quoted context omitted.
Personally, I think so. I get the same effect if I'm in the hot tub with the jets running. White noise blocks distractions pretty well, so my brain can get lost in thought.
You don't need a shower or hot tub for that, there are online noise generators with hundreds of different flavors such as https://mynoise.net/ - I prefer music most of the time however, the "rain sounds" are so relaxing that they make me sleepy...
Yeah, I use a sound machine at home for sleeping. We started with our kids when they were babies, then decided we liked having one in our room as well.
Haven't graduated to having one in my office, but maybe I should give that a whirl. Though one thing the shower & hot tub still have is temperature comfort. Warm and relaxing might be as important as the noise.
Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level
#77Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level
#78Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
I am not sure if I can hear binaural beats. I tried a few of them in the past and always found them… mm what that word… like “metal rubbing on other metal” sounds which I don’t like and felt randomized. They don’t work for me. I am not sure if my hearing aids have something to do with it. Hearing aids does modify the sounds from the microphone and amplifies & output various range to get closer to “normal hearing leve…
Super interesting, thank you. Indeed, if the hearing aid EQ'd the input to bring out things in the range of speech, the effect in most of the artistic binaural beats tracks could be suppressed, as the effect is caused by a very specific difference between tones sent to each ear. The beats are the artifact of directing two frequencies with a difference of only a few Hz, one per ear, and the "beat," phenomenon is a pul…
It is more likely it is the hearing aids EQs are changing the sounds. Hearing aids is basically a computer in a tiny form, that why they are $2,000 to $6,000 USD each. Every hearing aids (each side of the ear) have a customized EQ for each wearer, it is conform to their hearing ability to pick up sounds. For myself, I can hear up to 2MHz and only audible at 100 dB with hearing aids. I can’t hear past 2.5Mhz range but I can feel the vibration in my cochlea. That helps me to know they are speaking outside of my frequency range. I often have issues understanding people who is using tonal language like East Asian languages, it sounds like they are speaking from a Walkman CD with skipping every 5 seconds.
Re: Why noise is necessary for our brains to perform at a high-level
#80It depends on where you are raised.
I need to make deals in cities like New York, or London or Paris, Frankfurt, or Madrid.
At buildings, specially hotels in those cities there is a constant hum, low level noise all the time that is specially present when you need to sleep.
People that are raised in cities are hearing this sound all the time. I was raised outside them so for me this sound is alien but for those people it means "home".
It was incredible being in Paris or Madrid center with COVID and hearing birds as background instead of road sounds.
I need birds or sea waves or tree leaves sounds in order to work and focus. Cars or air blowers sounds are really distracting for me.