Have you ever found yourself being more productive while you sit in a coffee shop, working away while life goes on around you? Then Coffitivity might be just the thing for you! Their slogan is “Enough noise to work” and that’s exactly what Coffitivity provide: the sound track of a coffee shop. The free tracks include a “Morning Murmur”, “Lunchtime Lounge” and “University Undertones”, getting a premium account unlocks more tracks on top of those three free ones. Whether you play the tracks online from their website or get the app, you can now bring the ambience of a coffee shop home to you. A lot of people need this sort of background noise, myself included. “A moderate level of ambient noise is conducive to creative cognition”, according to a study by the University of Chicago. Coffitivity is based on this research: ambient noise of a coffee shop can make you more creative! I feel like I’m part of society, even though I might just sit in the café and write and not engage with anyone. I live alone, don’t have pets except for a hedgehog in the garden who’s about to go and hibernate, and the quiet is overwhelming sometimes. I look for distractions, something else to do. I also work in a small office now, we’re only 4 women. We do talk, but I was used to open plan offices with 40 people in them. Before now I never really noticed, but the chatter of the call centre I used to work at actually helped me. There’s a reason I was their Rep of the Year 2011 – my productivity skyrocketed with the sound of productivity in the office. With this soundtrack, I can concentrate despite the noise. It’s indistinct conversation murmurs, the scraping of a chair against the floor, cups on porcelain saucers, the door chime and the sounds of a coffee machine being handled (milk steamed, beans replenished, etc.). You can practically taste the caramel macchiato and lemon/poppyseed muffin. I’m glad I discovered this website so early in my MA by Distance Learning. As much as I’d love to, I can’t go out for coffee every day. Once a week, if I’m lucky. So this is perfect for me. I can bring the sounds home, all that’s missing is engaging my olfactory system. But this is easily rectified with a cup of coffee from my home blend. This background noise and the smell of coffee should help me get through my studies faster and get more creative writing done. What about you? Have you noticed that you need background noise in order to be creative?