Working from home was a dream life for a lot of people who wanted to wake up, grab their morning coffee or tea, and tap away at their computer without distractions to throw them off track. Now, some of those people are getting a taste of the WFH life and realizing that it is not what they pictured at all. Perhaps you are one of those people. The transition from a buzzing office space to sudden silence can be jarring, but there’s a way to give your home the office “white noise” treatment. Kids Creative Agency’s website imisstheoffice.eu allows visitors to play sounds that they would typically hear in an office.
The site is a single page with a graphic that resembles a floating, open work space. There’s a clickable play button in the corner to start those oh-so-familiar noises—faint humming, garbled conversations, phones ringing, and other rustling sounds. You can choose up to 10 colleagues to really ramp up the controlled chaos and throw some chewing in the mix. There is also office equipment to select if you want to hear specific noises like a printer—the one that actually works and not one you want to smash in a field.
This website is a clever idea, especially during a social distancing time when many people aren’t able to go into their regular environment. Working from home in silence and solitude is great for some people but others thrive better with those ambient sounds in the background.
Office sounds aside, there are lots of videos to re-create familiar sounds of public places where people may work/study like a coffee shop or library. This YouTube video is one example of library background noise that might soothe a college student who is used to studying to the sound of soft murmurs and flipping pages.
Or, perhaps this eight-hour clip of coffee shop chatter and espresso sounds will help tone down some anxiety-inducing silence. The only thing that’s missing is the smell of the coffee.
There’s also Coffitivity, a website and app with cleverly named playlists of different coffee shop sounds. Users can choose from options like “Morning Murmur” and “Lunchtime Lounge” and integrate them with Spotify and Pandora tunes to create a nice vibe.
Noisli has lots of nature sounds, trains, coffee shops, and general types of noises to stifle out silence. Users can combine the sounds, adjust their levels, and even save their favorite mixes for future use. The website ranges from a free membership to paid ones with more options.
And, if coffee shops and nature sounds aren’t your thing, there’s nothing like an ASMR video to get you through the day. ASMR Rooms has a ton of Harry Potter inspired videos with soothing images and ambient noise. So relaxing.
Going from a bustling coffee shop or office space to a home work space isn’t easy. But hopefully those who need some ambiance will find the right app, website, or video to help them get through those work-from-home days.
Header Image: Kids Creative Agency