🎧 Focus sounds
Some people study better with soft sound in the background. Others study better in quiet. Focus sounds lets each student choose: Off, Calm music, Rain, Pink noise, Brown noise or White noise.
How to use it
- Press the round 🎧 button in the bottom corner of any page or course.
- Pick a sound. It starts softly. Press Off to stop.
- Move the Volume slider. Keep it quiet: you should still hear a person talking next to you.
- Your choice is saved on this device only. On a new page, press 🎧 and then ▶ Play to start it again.
What it always does
- Lessons come first. When a lesson voice, a video, a game sound or a sound effect plays, focus sounds go quiet right away and come back softly after.
- No music during tests. Music rests during practice tests, practice exams and mastery checks. Noise rests too, unless you turn on Keep on during practice tests.
- No words in the music. The calm music is instruments only, so it does not mix with words you read.
- Nothing to download, nothing leaves your device. Every sound is made by your browser with our own code. No recordings, no copyright, no account.
- It starts Off. Nothing plays until you press a button. It pauses when you switch tabs.
What research says, in simple words
1. Music does not make you smarter. The famous "Mozart effect" did not hold up. A study that combined about 40 studies with more than 3,000 people found no support for it.
2. Music with words makes reading harder. In one study, students understood what they read best in quiet or with instrumental music, and worse with songs that had words, even songs they liked.
3. Music can make memory and reading tasks harder for many people. A large review of 95 articles found background music most often made no difference, but when it did, it usually made memory and language tasks harder, and hard tasks more than easy ones. Instrumental music was less of a problem than music with words.
4. Liking the music does not fix that. When people tried to remember lists, music they liked got in the way as much as music they did not like.
5. Noise helps some people and not others. A 2024 review of studies found that white and pink noise gave a small boost on attention tasks for young people with ADHD or many attention symptoms, but a small drop for others. Brown noise has very little research so far.
6. Protect your ears. The World Health Organization's safe listening standard for children uses 75 decibels for 40 hours a week as the limit. Quiet is safer.
So what should I pick?
- Reading, writing, memorizing, tests: try Off first. That is the safest choice for most students.
- Room is noisy, or quiet makes your mind wander: try Rain or Pink noise, very soft. If your score drops, switch back to Off.
- Practice that is not reading (drawing, sorting, math facts you know well): Calm music is fine if it helps you stay put.
- Try it like a scientist: do one practice set with sound and one without. Keep the one where you score higher.
For families
This is a choice, not a treatment. If your child has ADHD or attention needs, talk with your child's doctor or school team; the research on noise is small and early. Use headphones only at a quiet volume.
For teachers
Focus sounds is off by default and runs only on the student's device. In class, students should use headphones. Music always rests on practice tests in our courses. On real state tests and Regents exams, use your school's and the state's testing rules.
Sources (checked Nov 10, 2026)
- Pietschnig, J., Voracek, M., & Formann, A. K. (2010). Mozart effect–Shmozart effect: A meta-analysis. Intelligence, 38(3), 314. doi:10.1016/j.intell.2010.03.001
- Chabris, C. F. (1999). Prelude or requiem for the "Mozart effect"? Nature, 400, 826–827. doi:10.1038/23608
- Perham, N., & Currie, H. (2014). Does listening to preferred music improve reading comprehension performance? Applied Cognitive Psychology, 28(2), 279–284. doi:10.1002/acp.2994
- Perham, N., & Vizard, J. (2011). Can preference for background music mediate the irrelevant sound effect? Applied Cognitive Psychology, 25(4), 625–631. doi:10.1002/acp.1731
- Cheah, Y., Wong, H. K., Spitzer, M., & Coutinho, E. (2022). Background music and cognitive task performance: A systematic review of task, music, and population impact. Music & Science, 5.
- Kämpfe, J., Sedlmeier, P., & Renkewitz, F. (2011). The impact of background music on adult listeners: A meta-analysis. Psychology of Music. doi:10.1177/0305735610376261
- Söderlund, G. B. W., Sikström, S., Loftesnes, J. M., & Sonuga-Barke, E. J. (2010). The effects of background white noise on memory performance in inattentive school children. Behavioral and Brain Functions, 6.
- Nigg, J. T., et al. (2024). Systematic review and meta-analysis: Do white noise or pink noise help with task performance in youth with ADHD or with elevated attention problems? Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry. doi:10.1016/j.jaac.2023.12.014
- World Health Organization & ITU (2019). Safe listening devices and systems: a WHO-ITU standard.
Focus sounds is a study helper, not medical advice. Sounds are made by our own code in your browser; no recordings are used.