Focusing with Rain Sounds
Plenty of people work well in a café and badly in a silent room. In complete silence, sudden sounds — a voice next door, a door closing — stand out more. Steady rain makes a good background because it covers them. This guide explains how to set up rain for working.
Start by pressing Focus
Press the Sound and display button at the bottom and choose Focus under Moods at the top. It sets rain to 60, wind to 10 and brown noise to 20, and turns off everything that pops up irregularly, such as thunder and crickets. Start from there and adjust to taste.
Quieter than you think
A background sound should be quiet enough that you forget it is there. Raise it only until the noise around you is just covered; any louder and it becomes one more noise. To turn everything down without upsetting the balance, leave the individual sliders alone and lower the master volume.
Keep thunder off
Thunder is great for atmosphere and bad for work. A loud sound that can come at any moment pulls your attention every time. For the same reason, crickets and fire crackle are better low or off. Sounds that change little suit work best: rain, brown noise and a light wind.
Reading and writing versus routine tasks
- Reading and writing — rain 50, brown noise 25. If the drops tapping on the glass bother you, lower the rain further and raise the brown noise.
- Sorting and repetitive tasks — rain 65, wind 20. A fuller sound is fine here.
- In a noisy place — adding white noise at 15–25 makes voices less audible. It tires the ears easily, so keep it low for long sessions.
Time your sessions with the timer
Choose Custom in the Sleep timer and enter 25 or 50 to measure one session. When the time is up the sound fades out and stops, and noticing the quiet is your cue to stand up. When you come back, press Listen again and set the timer for the next session.
You do not need to watch
Open a tab, turn the sound on and work in another window. While the tab is hidden nothing is drawn, so it puts no load on your computer, and the sound keeps playing. If the phone rings, press M in that tab to silence it at once. There is more on screen placement in A background for work and study.
Earphones in shared spaces
In an office or a library, always use earphones. For long listening, keep the volume low.