Rain, thunderstorm, forest, river, waves, night, cafe and fireplace. Play one in your browser, then type a book with it.
Steady background sound gives your ears something to settle on, which many people find makes it easier to stay with a task. These eight loops are free, play in your browser with no download, and are the same sounds you can switch on while you type a book on Typersguild. Pick one below, set the volume, and listen for a minute or two before you decide.
Ambient sounds
Pick a sound below to start.
Soft indoor rain with a little distant thunder. The rain is even and has no rhythm to follow, so it works as a steady wash that sits under keyboard noise and room sounds. It is the one to try first if you have never used ambient sound while working.
Best for: Long writing sessions and first-time listeners. Loop: 2:11. Recording: Pixabay Content License.
Steady rain with a storm rolling in, recorded in a small town. It is more dramatic than the rain recording, so choose it when you want a bigger backdrop that shuts out a noisy room.
Best for: Noisy rooms and long, quiet stretches of work. Loop: 3:56. Recording: CC0 1.0 (Garuda1982 on Freesound).
A field recording of birdsong and woodland ambience from Edinburgh, captured at 96 kHz. It is bright and open, with birds in the foreground. Because the bird calls vary, it feels livelier than rain or water, which some people prefer for daytime sessions. The loop is short, so you may start to recognise it.
Best for: Daytime sessions and light reading. Loop: 1:11. Recording: CC0 1.0 (BurghRecords on Freesound).
A river flowing at an even pace. Moving water is dense and smooth, which makes this the closest recording here to a gentle white noise. It stays out of the way, with no single sound that stands out.
Best for: Studying and anything that needs steady, unobtrusive sound. Loop: 2:40. Recording: CC0 1.0 (chinoise on Freesound).
Surf rolling in, with small pebbles shifting in the shallows. Waves rise and fall slowly, which gives the recording a gentle pulse. It is calmer than the storm and more textured than the river.
Best for: Relaxed practice and winding down after a long day. Loop: 2:31. Recording: CC0 1.0 (rucisko on Freesound).
Crickets and other insects on a rural property at night. The chirping is constant and high, so it covers small background noises well. The loop is short, so it repeats sooner than the longer recordings.
Best for: Late-evening sessions. Loop: 1:19. Recording: CC0 1.0 (OwlStorm on Freesound).
The bustle of a busy cafeteria, recorded in the Czech Republic: chatter and the clatter of a coffee bar. You are unlikely to follow the words, so it reads as texture rather than conversation. It suits people who work better with some human noise around them.
Best for: Working better with some background activity. Loop: 4:53. Recording: CC0 1.0 (waweee on Freesound).
A wood fire crackling in a fireplace. The pops and cracks are irregular, which gives it more character than steady noise, and the quiet stretches between them keep it from feeling busy. It pairs well with slow, careful typing.
Best for: Cold evenings and slow, careful practice. Loop: 4:09. Recording: CC0 1.0 (pater.marek.op on Freesound).
Yes. All eight sounds are free to play, and you do not need an account.
No. Sounds play in your browser. The first play streams the file, and your browser then stores a copy so the same sound starts instantly next time.
It depends on you. Steady, texture-like sounds such as rain, river and waves tend to fade into the background, while cafe, forest and night have more variation. Try a few for a full chapter each and keep the one you stop noticing.
Yes. Open any chapter in the book catalog and use the headphones button in the typing view to choose a sound and volume. On this page, press Type with this sound and it opens a chapter with your choice already set.
Yes. Keystroke sounds and ambient sounds are separate settings with their own volumes, so you can combine them. Preview switches on the mechanical key sounds page.
Seven are CC0 field recordings from Freesound, and the rain recording is used under the Pixabay Content License. Each recording is credited with a link in its section above.
