As I write this, the most pleasing sound is washing over me—gentle waves ebbing and flowing onto the shore. Sadly, I’m not actually on some magnificent tropical beach. Instead, the sounds of the sea are being generated by my Mac.
Yet, more than just being pleasing to the ear, this sound, and others the Mac can generate, have helped boost my focus in recent months when I’m under deadline and trying to get work done. The feature is called “Background Sounds.” Here are some of the benefits I’ve gotten from it and how you can use it, too.
The pandemic made me realize background sounds help me focus
I know some writers who need absolute silence when they are working. I’ve never been one of those people. I work best when there is low-level noise from something else in the space around me—the rustling of tree branches outside a window or the indistinct murmur of other people in a cafe.
I didn’t realize how much I relied on background noise to stay focused until the early days of the pandemic when lockdowns hit. Like many, I was suddenly stuck working from home, cut off from the background noises I had become accustomed to. I tried supplementing the newfound silence with music, but songs and even instrumentals were too distracting.
Then, by chance, while browsing YouTube on my TV out of boredom one day, I came across an eight-hour video titled something like “Relaxing Coffee Shop Ambience.” The entire video was just an animated photo of the exterior of a visually appealing coffee house that played in a loop, but was set against a soundtrack of invisible customers murmuring, coffee mugs occasionally clacking, and autumn leaves blowing in the wind.
I played it on my television that day and, I swear, I’d never focused so well on work before. Since then, I almost always play background ambience videos while I write. The cafe ones are nice, but natural ones, like rain or ocean scenes, really work for me. They seem to have a dual effect: increasing my focus while boosting my creativity.
But playing those videos is not always practical if you go outside the house. At work, you don’t want your boss to think you’re wasting time watching YouTube, and playing an hours-long video on your laptop is a great way to run out of battery halfway through your workday.
That’s where the Mac’s “Background Sounds” feature comes in. It doesn’t have the visual distractions or battery drain issues that YouTube ambiance videos do. And while Apple may not be the first company to bring background sounds to the masses (apps like Calm and Headspace are the leaders in the ambient sounds landscape), the big benefit of Apple’s BackGround sounds is that it’s built into macOS, and so is free to use. This is terrific for those with subscription fatigue who don’t want to shell out monthly for yet another software service.
How to use Background Sounds on your Mac
If you have macOS Ventura or later, you can use the Mac’s Background Sounds capabilities. But first, you need to enable the feature. To do this, open the System Settings app on your Mac, click the Accessibility options, and make sure the “Background sounds” switch is toggled on. Next, go to the Control Center options in the System Settings app and make sure under “Hearing” that “Show in Control Center” is toggled on.
Once you’ve done this, you can quickly turn on the background sound of your choice. Here’s how:
- Click the Control Center icon in the Mac’s menu bar.
- Click the hearing button (the ear icon).
- Click Background Sounds.
- Now click on the background sound you want to play.
The background sound you choose will now play in an infinite loop from your Mac’s speakers or through any headphones connected to your Mac. Your options include five natural sounds—ocean, rain, stream, night, and fire—and three more basic white noise sounds—balanced, bright, or dark.
If you’re like me, you may soon find that enabling any of these background sounds on your Mac helps you stay focused while working.
Is there any science behind the productivity benefits of white noise?
I’ve met many people who are like me and say that playing background sounds helps them focus and even makes them feel more creative. But does science actually back this up?
It depends. I’ve yet to find a rigorous scientific study that explored whether natural background noises, like rain or a crackling fire, actually have a measurable impact on one’s ability to focus at work.
However, a 2022 study from researchers at the University of Southern California looked at the impact of white noise on neurotypical individuals. That study found that white noise played at 45 decibels resulted in “improved cognitive performance in terms of sustained attention, accuracy, and speed” as well as enhanced creativity. And when played at 65 decibels, the white noise “led to improved working memory”—but also higher stress levels.
Personally, I can’t imagine working without some calming seaside background noise. It’s no day at the beach—but it’ll sound like it is.
