Let me start by saying: No sound is more beautiful in the home office, than your little ones running, screaming, and throwing things.
IRONY OFF… ?
This is a very delicate topic. It can be true for one person and completely wrong for another. There is definitely some science behind it, but it applies differently to most people. Look at it like a coloring book: The lines are the same for everyone, the colors will be different, though.
It is proven, that many people need to have some kind of noise around them to concentrate and be productive. Yes, it can actually be too quite for some people. I totally consider myself one of those folks. You will rarely find me working without my headphones on and in this very moment my Bluetooth speaker at home is keeping my concentration levels up. On the other hand, there are people, that are easily torn out of their rhythm as soon as they hear someone typing in their surrounding.
I considered a low level noise while working on the concept of Space Shack Berlin, the coworking space I co-founded in 2015. I didn’t want to disturb or stress people with background music, though. So what do we do? White noise was an idea, but that could be too relaxing for some people. In the end, we got lucky: Our state of the art ventilation system did the job perfectly. A quite and peaceful hum came as the perfect solution. A colleague from “Steelcase” came to me one day and actually checked the decibel levels, and they were perfect (yeeha!).
This is not supposed to be advertising, just the tool I personally use. In the last few months I was working with a Russian startup, that is in the process of moving to Berlin. Their product is, in my eyes, phenomenal! The company is called “Endel” (https://endel.io/) and it’s the first algorhythm to ever sign a record deal with “Universal Music”. Their algorhythm composes music, which helps you concentrate, relax, and even sleep. I really have to say, that it helps me a lot. It’s available for iOS and Android. Check it out, if you feel like I do.
