greensound

Sound for studying

Or mix your own

Field recordings

Yucatán Peninsula, Mexico

Field recordings

Oaxaca, Mexico

Real field recordings. We name the recordist whenever we know who it was.

Noise

Made in your browser, not a recording.

Your mix

  • green

green

Made in your browser

Session length

A study session rarely happens somewhere perfectly quiet — a library with pages turning, a dorm room, a kitchen table while a household goes about its evening. Plenty of students put a steady sound in their headphones instead of listening to the room's own unpredictable noise, usually starting it the moment they sit down.

Why this page opens on rain

A lot of people who study with background sound for long stretches — a two-hour block, an evening of reading — say they prefer something steady and low over a bright hiss. This page opens on the Focus mix: jungle rain, recorded near Uxmal in Yucatán, Mexico, with brown noise underneath. The noise colors on their own are one tap away if the rain isn't for you. Pick a length that matches your study block; the mixer fades out on its own when it ends.

Listen safely

This is a sound, played back through whatever speaker or headphones you already own. It doesn't diagnose, measure, or promise anything about how you sleep, focus, or feel — it's just noise and a handful of real recordings, mixed the way you like them.

Keep the volume low enough that you'd still notice a smoke alarm, a phone ringing, or someone at the door. If you fall asleep in headphones, choose a volume and a pair you'd be comfortable wearing all night, and a session length that ends when you'd want the sound to stop.

If you use this near a baby, keep the speaker several feet from the crib, never inside or clipped to it, and keep the volume low — the same care you'd take with any sound machine in a nursery.

If your relationship with sound, or with sleep, feels difficult rather than simply restless, a doctor or audiologist is the right person to talk to. This is a mixer, not a clinician.

Is this mix specifically better for studying?

There's no evidence base offered on this page for that, and it isn't a claim we're making. The Focus mix, jungle rain with brown noise underneath, is here because a lot of people who study with background sound describe preferring something deep and steady over a brighter hiss during long sessions — that's a description of a common preference, not a ranking of effectiveness.

Should I use headphones in a library?

If a library allows headphones, they're the obvious way to add background sound without adding to the room's noise for anyone else. In a room where headphones aren't practical or allowed, a lower-volume speaker or simply working without added sound are the alternatives.

Does this replace study apps that mix in music or café sounds?

This mixer only plays generated noise colors and real field recordings that say where they were made, like the rain near Uxmal this page opens on — nothing here is a café recording or a lo-fi playlist. If that's specifically what you're after, this isn't that kind of app; it's a narrower, plainer tool.

How long can I study with this playing?

As long as you choose. The Focus mix is set to sixty minutes; fifteen, thirty and ninety minutes, or all night, are there too. It fades out on its own at the end, which can double as the end of a study block.

What if I don't like this mix?

Every other sound is one tap away on this same page: green, white or brown noise on its own, or another real recording. There's no reason to stick with this mix if it isn't the one you end up preferring.