City buzz
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0City buzz
City Noise is a generalised acoustic background of a moderately busy city during the day: passing cars at 100 to 300 m, distant horns, wind between buildings, occasional steps on the pavement, muffled distant transit. This is a typical European city soundscape described by the WHO in Environmental Noise Guidelines for the European Region (WHO Regional Office for Europe, 2018) as an acoustic environment of 50 to 65 dB.
City noise in moderate doses isn't harmful and can be useful for work. The crucial study by Söderlund and colleagues (Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2007) showed that in children and adults with ADHD tendencies, moderate white or pink noise (and city noise is spectrally close to pink) improves performance on tasks demanding sustained attention. The explanation runs through stochastic resonance: a light noisy background helps push a weak inner attention signal across the threshold of awareness.
That said, sustained exceedances of 65 dB are linked to cardiovascular disease risk (Münzel et al., European Heart Journal, 2014). So use this track as a conscious choice: to simulate city life at home, for work by people for whom too quiet is anxiety-inducing, for writing urban scenes, for city-themed podcasts, and as a native background for café and shop marketing. Pairs with Café, Park Atmosphere and Highway (to intensify). Not for sleep, since high event density disrupts delta waves.
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ReduxSound v1.0.0
Ambient sound mixer for relaxation and focus