Coffee Shop Noise, and Our Brains
“Coffitivity, was inspired by recent research showing that the whoosh of espresso machines and caffeinated chatter typical of most coffee shops creates just the right level of background noise to stimulate creativity. The Web site, which is free, plays an ambient coffee shop soundtrack that, according to researchers, helps people concentrate …Â
Their results, published in The Journal of Consumer Research, found that a level of ambient noise typical of a bustling coffee shop or a television playing in a living room, about 70 decibels, enhanced performance compared with the relative quiet of 50 decibels.
A higher level of noise, however, about 85 decibels, roughly the noise level generated by a blender or a garbage disposal, was too distracting, the researchers found.”
My preference is for the medium-busy coffee shop; blender noises are too jarring, but even worse are the baristas who sound like they have Carnival Barker listed somewhere on their resumes. Sometimes variety is good: “The benefits of moderate noise, however, apply only to creative tasks. Projects that require paying close attention to detail, like proofreading a paper or doing your taxes, Dr. Mehta said, are performed better in quiet environments.”
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign study mentioned in the article has some interesting tidbits: “Switching the color of your computer’s background screen to blue enhances performance on creative tasks, for example, while making it red helps with detail-oriented tasks.” When you’re stuck on ideas, anything’s worth a try, I suppose.
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Lifehacker also has another coffee shop ambiance alternative: “Soundrown Plays Coffee Shop Noise, White Noise, Rain, and More to Help You Focus“
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