Background noise

[Miss Chicken]

Do you like background noise when you are reading or studying?

What about when you are using the computer?

And last of all when you go to bed - do you have the TV or music on?

 

[trekkiedane]

Do you like background noise when you are reading or studying?

No.
I will put on some 'music' in order to drown out other noise though.

What about when you are using the computer?

I mostly have on a TV, when I'm on the computer, or sometimes even an album playing in the background - but sometimes I'm so engulfed in what I'm doing that the music runs out or the station on the TV closes for the night (or I forget to de-mute it after some ads).

And last of all when you go to bed - do you have the TV or music on?

Never.
But sometimes I listen to music in bed, I'll bring a portable player for those rare occasions though.

 

[Jadzia]

Do you like background noise when you are reading or studying?

When I studied for exams I prefered to have silence. Music doesn't help me to remember or to think more clearly about the subject at hand. The less potential for distraction the better.

What about when you are using the computer?

When I'm using the computer I'll usually have music playing if it's evening time. Maybe if it's afternoon, but never in a morning.

And last of all when you go to bed - do you have the TV or music on?

I prefer to have half an hour of quiet time before going to bed, otherwise my mind will stay too active and I'll be slower falling asleep.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I can't even have music on when I read, let alone a TV.

I don't have a TV in the same room as my computer, but sometimes I play music when I am using the computer.

However at night I put a DVD on to help me go to sleep. I usually put in a DVD I have watch many times and tell myself to stay awake until a certain point. For example I put on Fellowship of the Ring on and tell myself to stay awake to the end of the birthday party but I rarely manage to. I also find a David Attenborough DVD is good to go to sleep by because his voice is calming. If I don't have a DVD on too many thoughts go through my head and keep me awake.

 

[Mr Light]

I must have background noise at all times, actually. I always have the TV on, even if it's at super low volume. When I sleep I have a white noise machine cranked up on high.

There's nothing I hate more than the roar of silence in my ears. I can't sleep with that. Plus I'm a light sleeper so outside noises always wake me up.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Plus I'm a light sleeper so outside noises always wake me up.

I am also a light sleeper. If I don't have a DVD on the sound of rain or wind will wake me up. Luckily I live in a quiet cul-de-sac in a quiet street so I rarely hear any traffic.

But the bloody birds wake me up at about 5am.

 

[trekkiedane]

But the bloody birds wake me up at about 5am.

Birds should be illegal

 

[Etched]

I don't like any background noise when I'm reading, I'm too easily distracted but if I'm on the computer or doing the housework I'll normally have the radio on in the background or my MP3 player on.

And I'm also a very light sleeper, in fact I've taken to sleeping in ear plugs if only to block out the tawny owl that sits outside my window half the night.

 

[Cheapjack]

I like noise all the time, and I am terrified of quiet, in case I start to think. and, I think it's only fair that everybody else should be the same.

 

[SPOCKED]

I am a big background noise type - if it hums it will help me think and work better. I have to get up about 5:45am so by 10pm I'm usually wrapping things up. I love to nod off on the couch with Greta Van Susteren - On The Record

 

[Holdfast]

I could never understand how people were able to memorise things with music in the background. When I was studying, I needed it to be as silent as possible to allow me to quickly memorise things. Extraneous noise just made it harder to lay down the appropriate associations and connections. It interfered with the repetition/rehearsal process by distracting me.

Having said that, these days, whenever I'm at home I almost always have the TV turned on. I like the background chatter even if I'm doing something entirely unrelated.

But to sleep, again, I prefer something as close to silence as possible.

 

[Warp Coil]

I absolutely need background noise at all times. When I read, I've always got my iPod going (usually instrumental/classical music... lyrics might distract me). When I'm writing a paper or something for school, I've got iTunes open. When I go to bed, I've got a DVD on and it's set on repeat to play throughout the night.

I think part of my problem is paranoia. If it's dead silent and I hear an odd noise in the background, it catches my attention and then I wonder what caused it. Also, when I am at home, the sound of running water/pipes makes me tense up. I've experienced a couple of water leaks in the past, and so now every time an upstairs neighbor is flushing a toilet or running the water, I get paranoid and worried. Silly, but it happens. Any noise to help drown out the sound of the pipes helps calm my fears.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

Yeah, I always need background noise. One thing that's kind of frustrating is at work I like to wear headphones so I can block out the silence/idle chitchat around me, and I usually can't because my coworkers are always calling to me over the walls. Sigh.

 

[TerokNor]

Silence. I don´t like background noises at all when I am studying.
When I want to go to sleep I never have the TV on (have the thing very rarely turned on anyway), though sometimes I have music on, sometimes not, always depends on the mood. Or what puts me to sleep easily is a very monotonous sound, like a heating air thing...love that, always loved it since I was a small child ( but I dont have such a thing since the last 20 years...actually thats good, cause otherwise I probably had it turned on endless and it would eat a lot energy).
I also have nothing against some laughter or chatting in the very background, when somebody else is still awake...thats actually quite comfortable as it is sort of safety. What drives me insane however is the chatter of my nighbours, that I can hear quite clearly (well her at least not him) and she loves to shout at him, ordering him around and nagging all the time in a woefull tone of voice etc. I cannot stand her voice and tone...makes me feel really aggressive and then I cannot sleep or study.

TerokNor

 

[Neroon]

At work, you can really tell when the white noise has been turned off or down. It makes a tremendous difference, especially since we've gone to a more centrally organized layout of work stations. However, I will say that often I will plug in some earphones to listen to music in order to shut out louder conversations going on closer by.

 

[ITL]

I carry background noise wherever I go, thanks to the tinnitus in mine earholes. Actually, the background noise generated by my computer being on makes it less annoying. I try to avoid pure silence if I can.

 

[Etched]

^I suffer from mild tinnitus and that's one of the reasons I will have the radio on most of the time during the day but if I'm reading or trying to sleep I still turn everything off. The hearing therapist suggested noise therapy and I gave it a try but it was just replacing one annoying noise with another - but as I said my tinnitus is quite mild and on good days I can block it out.

 

[Mary Ann]

I've always had difficulty blocking out background noise, so have always had to study in complete silence. At most I'd listen to classical music. Having a television on in the background is one of my pet peeves. However since I've had children I've become better at ignoring background noise. I still prefer to read and study in silence because silence is a rare commodity in our house. I must have silence when going to bed because I'm a stupidly light sleeper. Most mornings I have to wake my daughter up to tell her that her alarm is going off; it wakes me up (my room is next to hers) but she sleeps right through it.

 

[thestrangequark]

It depends on my mood. Sometimes I prefer music or TV on in the background, others I prefer it silent. Though I usually sleep without any noise, sometimes the noise in my own head keeps me up, and at those times TV or music is the distraction that may allow me to drift off.

Strangely it is when I watch TV that I need "background noise." TV very rarely can hold my attention on its own, so I usually either read a book or magazine or go online while I watch TV or movies.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I like silence when I read, but when I'm trying to sleep I have to have music playing. Like this or this.