What this does while you read
Reading goes badly when a room is either dead silent or full of small interruptions, and this pairing is aimed at both. Blue noise is a thin, bright hiss, and rain is hiss too, so between them they soften the higher sounds in a house, like a television murmuring downstairs or someone moving around in the kitchen. A bus going past is deeper than either of them and comes straight through. There are no words anywhere in this mix, which matters when the words on the page already need all the language you have.
When rain helps and when it doesn't
For a novel or a long article, rain tends to be good company. For dense technical material, some people find that any moving sound splits their attention and a flatter background is easier to ignore. Give it five minutes and notice whether you've read the same paragraph twice. Bright hiss can also get irritating over a long session, so stop if your ears feel tight or you notice ringing, and come back to it quieter another day.
Start quiet and drop the bright part first
Set the overall volume low before you touch anything else. If the hiss is the thing you keep hearing, take blue noise down toward 35% and let the rain sit just above it, which is a long way below where the mix starts. If you want a fuller room without more sharpness, raise the rain and not the noise. Playing through a speaker across the room softens the whole thing by itself. When pausing the sound barely changes how the page feels, you have it about right.
Explore the sounds in this mix
Listen to each layer on its own: Blue Noise and Rain. Or start from scratch in the free online sound mixer.
Frequently asked questions
What does blue noise sound like?
It is a thin, bright hiss, lighter than white noise and with none of the weight of a rumble. It sits close to the pitch of rain, which is why the two blend.
Why does it feel loud on headphones?
Bright sound feels stronger close to the ear than it does across a room, so a level that suits a speaker can be too much in earbuds. Start low and work up.
Can I swap blue noise for something softer?
Yes. Turn it off in the mixer and bring in pink or brown noise instead, or any other sound in the library, then keep the version you like with Save mix.