Study Sounds

Study Sounds is calm, unhurried background music for when you read a First Leaf, write at your Writing Desk or simply sit in the hall. It is made of soft chords, a gentle melody and a quiet, surf-like wash, and you can add the sound of a harp, a violin, a guitar or a piano. Press play on the front page, on the small round ♪ button in the top bar (next to your name), or on the small gold button at the bottom right of the reading and writing pages. The music keeps playing as you move from page to page.

Headphones, please

Underneath the music there can be a binaural beat: a slightly different tone in each ear. Your brain hears the small gap between them as a slow pulse. This only works with headphones. Through speakers the beat does nothing, so choose “Music only, no beat” (or set the gap to 0) and the music plays on its own. Keep the volume low.

What it is, and what it is not

The research on whether binaural beats help concentration or relaxation is mixed: some studies find a small effect, others find none. Please treat Study Sounds as pleasant background sound, not as a treatment of any kind. Do not use it while driving or operating machinery. If you have epilepsy or a similar condition, ask your doctor first.

Nothing leaves your device

The sound is made inside your own browser. Nothing is sent to us or to anyone else, there is no account and no tracking for it. Your choices (the sound, the mood, the volume) are remembered only in your own browser, on this device. The recordings of real instruments are downloaded only when you switch that instrument on.