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I often play instrumental music when doing work that requires focus. It occupies the part of my brain that loves distraction just enough to help me concentrate on work. Turns out there is something potentially better than music for concentrating: Noisli.
The idea is simple. You can use Noisli’s environmental sounds to drown out annoying noises in order to better focus and boost productivity. You can also create a pleasant sound environment for relaxing or sleeping.
Simply go to Noisli.com, select one or more of the available environmental sounds, tune the volume to your liking, and work, sleep or concentrate on whatever you need to. Signing up lets you save your favorite sound combinations. Best of all the website version is free.
Noisli has sixteen peaceful sounds to mix and match:
Rain
Thunderstorm
Wind
Forest
Leaves
Water Stream
Seaside
Water
Bonfire
Summer Night
Fan
Train
Coffee Shop
White Noise
Pink Noise
Brown Noise
Here I’ve selected both the Coffee Shop and Brown Noise sounds for a rather pleasant diner-like atmosphere. You can combine any sounds you like. Maybe you want to listen to the Thunderstorm, Campfire and Train sounds all at once? No problem. You do you.
The built in timer is straightforward and lets you set how long you want your environmental sounds to run.
There is even a simple built in text editor for writing. The editor is in early testing (beta), so maybe only use it for non-essential writing.
Noisli has paid apps for Android and iPhone, and a free Google Chrome browser extension.
Previously from One Useful Thing: Tunefind
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Keith Monaghan writes the One Useful Thing newsletter and is a researcher who works with creative teams on projects for companies like Nike, The CW Network and Upworthy. He can be reached at useful@keithmonaghan.com or follow him on Twitter @keithmonaghan