While working from home seems to be becoming the new normal, there are people who miss the atmosphere of the office. And we’re not talking about the conversations at the coffee machine, but about the sound of the copier, the buzz of colleagues or the tapping of keyboards. Calm Office brings those sounds back.
Sliders
The Brussels researcher and sound designer Stéphane Pigeon has set up an online library with sounds from different environments that attracts a million visitors every month. He has been publishing project since corona Calm Office. The application is now also available as an iOS and Android app. Here you control with sliders which sounds you want to hear and how loud they sound. When you move the mouse pointer over the colored sliders, you can read which sounds they produce. For example, you can hear the hum of the air conditioning together with chatting colleagues and the printers. At the bottom of the sliders you can read how many decibels these background noises make together.
Hold settings
According to Pigeon, these recognizable sounds have a calming effect, so that you can concentrate better. You don’t need advanced headphones, all sounds are designed to sound good even on the laptop. With a little creativity, you can put together a sound mix that you like best. Click on the link Save in url in the page. Calm Office will then generate a personalized internet address that remembers your preferences. Choose your Save as Cookie then your settings are stored in a browser cookie. Later you can recall the same settings by visiting the same generator and on Load to click. By the way, you can also use presets with meaningful names such as The Late Hours, Geeks At Work and Office Machines.
Unpredictable
Below the sliders of the player is another set of buttons such as Reset to return all controls to their neutral position. The button as Slider Animation, Slider Animation Speed and Slider Animation Mode you use to make the generator more unpredictable and therefore more natural. With Slider Animation you create an ever-changing atmosphere, because the sliders will move on their own. With Slider Animation Speed and Slider Animation Mode you determine the speed and intensity of those changes. By default they move within a range between 50% and 125% of the initial values. But if you choose this Subtle, Deep or Minimax then you change those margins. All that’s missing is a boss who occasionally bursts into the office.
