The sound of rain is very familiar to us living west of the Cascades in the Pacific Northwest. When it rains more days than not in a given season, for many locals the sound of rain is often not exactly "soothing".
As a qualified "rain sound critic", to my ears the generated rainfall didn't sound convincingly natural. Real rain is somewhat less "white" (lets call it "gray"), with a steadier, if muffled "thud" as drops hit land.
Of course there are many variables, like wind speed, rate of rain accumulation, soil conditions, urban vs. rural location among others, that alter rain's sound qualities. Accounting for these factors would probably be quite difficult. Too bad the website didn't provide more info about the sound generation algorithms, I think HN readers would appreciate that.
As far as applications of generated sounds go, I think it's a very individual matter. In respect to tinnitus, a condition I've had for a long time, it's not a problem only when things are quiet.
In my case the internally generated high-pitched squeal is constant, loud enough to interfere with normal conversation. Adding external noise doesn't decrease or "mask" the tinnitus, just makes it harder to distinguish sounds in the environment.
One more thing, having known hundreds of adults with ADHD, mileage varies considerably re: benefit or decrement of background sounds on concentration. Offhand I don't know of studies documenting effects, but it would be an interesting study to conduct. My guess is most would do better in a quiet, but not too quiet environment. The issue is precisely what is "quiet" or "too quiet" for these individuals.
I'm rather unqualified as a critic of rain sounds - morning fog leaves about as much moisture on things as what people around here would call a light rain. But I agree, it really doesn't sound quite like rain. The more prominent sounds remind me more of a brook or partially open faucet draining into a plugged up sink, and there is some rather obvious white noise in the background.
I also have tinnitus, but it's nowhere near as bad as yours sounds. Something like this is more than sufficient for me to mask it. It's really only an issue for me when things are very quiet.
Anecdotally, I find it much easier to concentrate with extremely loud music, usually with a strong and at least moderately fast beat. Even if I were to turn this up to 11, I don't think it would help me very much, aside from possibly masking background sounds that might grab my attention. At normal levels, I don't see it making any difference at all.
I have just reduced the level of the underlying white noise that plays along the rain samples. Please try again. Hit the television icon to increase the level of that white noise.
But please understand this is a white noise machine too. The rain sounds that have been selected - especially the heavier rain sounds - do include a high level of white noise, naturally.
I have had ADD/ADHD since childhood. The H part is mostly gone though. My workplace is actually getting me a set of sound isolating and cancelling headphones so that I can play something similar to this website on them. We just moved into a new space that has concrete floors and wooden/metal ceilings, with half sheetrock/half concrete walls - my productivity and ability to concentrate has plummeted as a result.
As a qualified "rain sound critic", to my ears the generated rainfall didn't sound convincingly natural. Real rain is somewhat less "white" (lets call it "gray"), with a steadier, if muffled "thud" as drops hit land.
Of course there are many variables, like wind speed, rate of rain accumulation, soil conditions, urban vs. rural location among others, that alter rain's sound qualities. Accounting for these factors would probably be quite difficult. Too bad the website didn't provide more info about the sound generation algorithms, I think HN readers would appreciate that.
As far as applications of generated sounds go, I think it's a very individual matter. In respect to tinnitus, a condition I've had for a long time, it's not a problem only when things are quiet.
In my case the internally generated high-pitched squeal is constant, loud enough to interfere with normal conversation. Adding external noise doesn't decrease or "mask" the tinnitus, just makes it harder to distinguish sounds in the environment.
One more thing, having known hundreds of adults with ADHD, mileage varies considerably re: benefit or decrement of background sounds on concentration. Offhand I don't know of studies documenting effects, but it would be an interesting study to conduct. My guess is most would do better in a quiet, but not too quiet environment. The issue is precisely what is "quiet" or "too quiet" for these individuals.