Do you use music to block out other noise?

[hugoagogo]

A friend says that's why they always have the radio on.
It doesn't make sense to me, music I wouldn't choose and worse adverts really stress me out.

[PhilipJennings]

I use it to block out my own thoughts. That's about it.

[mouldyhousemouldylife]

For some people general household noise is stressful so they block it out with music, radio, white noise etc. I'm one of them. I hate having music on all day but at least I can control it.

[MrsTJOsbornee]

I do. All the time. Can't bear silence.

[GenuineKlatchianPottery]

We live in a town centre, so lots of constant street noise. We tend to have our playlist on and at night we stick an audio book on that helps to distract from outside noises.

[PlausibleSuit]

Yes. I work from home a lot, or from cafes or public spaces, but I can't concentrate with chatter around me. (There's a lot of construction work going on around where I live at the moment so it's constantly noisy during the day.)

Radio drives me nuts, though. I can't do adverts either. I can't even do music with singing in it when I'm working (I end up typing the lyrics without realising... I once sent a client a training plan that had a load of the words to Bad Romance hidden in the progressions section )

There are loads of playlists on Spotify of instrumental music to work to and suchlike. A few pomodoro ones too. I pay for Spotify so no adverts. I also use that Focus@Will app/site, which plays instrumental music that's meant to help you focus, although I also pay for that and it only seems to work properly when I hook up to really fast wi-fi.

[SherlockSays]

Yes, I work in an open plan office and I can get distracted by the chatter and general hum of an office around me so I use my noise cancelling headphones and listen to music (although I'm not really listening but I can phase out from it).

[RezCowgirl]

Yes, but I wouldn't listen to the radio, like you say all the talking and adverts would be distracting. I listen to 3-4 hour long study music mixes on youtube.

[hugoagogo]

Maybe I am the weird one then. I really can't cope with music being on when I am doing something else ( unless it's totally mindless, like washing up) I concentrate on it too much and like to enjoy it properly.

[DianaPrincessOfThemyscira]

Yes. I work in a contact centre although I’m not call staff. I listen to either banging dance music (I’m enjoying Brazilian funk at the moment) or classical quite a lot as otherwise I’m constantly getting distracted.

[footchewer]

I listen to noise to block out other people's vile music.

I can't concentrate on anything with music playing; my brain automatically prioritises the music over everything else.

Birdsong, water, wind, rain noise etc work - it's all on youtube.

I'd still prefer blissful silence though!

My worst ever student job was working night shifts in a factory where they played toonz from the local radio all night. Pretty much the same six toonz on repeat. In a large, slightly echoey factory. It was like a waking nightmare.

[hugoagogo]

I can't concentrate on anything with music playing; my brain automatically prioritises the music over everything else.
^ This is me!
I haven't tried bird noise or the like, maybe I should. If I am in a noisy environment I just get het up.

[VeniVidiViciTwice]

I did at uni in computer labs. I could tune out from the music in my headphones (only certain songs) but couldn't tune out clattering and clacking and people talkingand moving about - there was too much from lots of different directions and so without the headphones/music I couldn't actually work! (I have dyspraxia and am hyper sensitive to noise).