Around the Cooler
When it’s time to really focus, sometimes your brain needs a little extra help. Cue the background music—a timeless tool for managing minds and moods. From worship music in ancient Egyptian temples to Muzak piped into World War II–era factories, background sound has aided concentration, relaxation, and productivity for centuries.
Thanks to streaming technology, we now have endless ways to curate soundscapes. Whether you’re diving into deep work, deep cleaning, or deep thoughts, these sound-based strategies can help you get—and stay—in the zone.
1. Studious Soundtracks
If you like to hit the books and the play button, make sure your music is helping rather than hijacking your focus. Though some researchers find that any music hinders working brain function, others suggest that simple, repetitive, lyric-free tracks can help your brain shift into a calmer or more alert state to support memorization. Tracks with binaural beats—where each ear hears a slightly different tone—may be especially helpful. Keep your tunes chill while studying and save your favorite hype song for a study-break reward.
2. Rainbow of Noise
Creating your own soundscape is an art—and, yes, it comes in colors. White, pink, and brown noise are steady streams of sound that can mask distractions, a useful strategy when people need a little help zooming in or zoning out. White noise covers the full sound spectrum evenly (think TV static), pink noise softens the high frequencies and boosts the lows (think gentle rain), and brown noise contains the most bass (think a rushing river).
3. I’m All Ears
Sure, audiobooks are great for squeezing in a chapter while folding laundry, pulling weeds, or commuting, but they’re more than just a multitasking tool. Audiobooks tap into our deep-rooted storytelling tradition and offer a way to rest our eyes from the page or the screen. Voice inflection, timing, and tone bring books to life, adding nuance that can be missed in print. Research even shows that listening to audiobooks can boost mental health, especially for adults over 65.
4. Sound Bites
Restaurateurs have long used music’s tempo to influence how quickly people eat and how long they linger. But the more recent rise of interest in sonic seasoning—the science of how sound influences taste—has taken the food-sound connection to new depths. Studies show that low-pitched tones enhance bitterness, high-pitched tones boost sweetness, and loud environments can dull flavor. It turns out that sound may be the most overlooked seasoning of all.
5. The Science of Silence
They started in cockpits, but noise-canceling headphones are now just as likely to be found in cubicles and carry-ons. These headphones detect incoming sound waves and produce inverse waves that block the noise before it reaches your ears. Kids and teens shouldn’t rely on noise-canceling devices all the time, though, as research suggests these devices may hinder developing brains from learning how to filter and process everyday sounds.
