Different Types of Audio to Improve Your Mood and Mental Health at Work

If you find yourself feeling tense when you work, or your mental health hasn’t been the best lately, explore how binaural beats, nature sounds and other types of audio could help.

When you’re not feeling emotionally or mentally well, there are a plethora of ways in which you can self-soothe. The only problem is that when you’re at work, some of those practices aren’t always the most feasible.

But you don’t have to wait until you clock out to start feeling mentally well again.

Sound can be a very useful and practical tool in the workplace when you’re looking to improve your mood and mental health overall. Different kinds of sound can:

• Ease physical tension
• Slow the breath
• Quiet the mind
• Mask noise pollution and other distractions
• Decrease sensory overload
• Improve focus
• Increase energy

By leveraging audio to decrease stress and manage your mood, you can also help prevent burnout.

In this post, we’re going to take a look at what the research says about the following types of audio on mental health: binaural beats, ASMR, nature sounds and color noises.

Audio You Can Use to Improve Your Mental Health and Mood

One of the reasons why we get stressed is because of external pressure. Looming deadlines, overly demanding clients, unanticipated change orders and so on.

But because we often can’t control what’s happening outside of ourselves, we have to just roll with it. And while we may be able to put our heads down and get the job done, our bodies and minds often hold onto that stress so we can deal with it later (if at all).

To better process the various stressors you encounter while working, consider bringing audio into your workspace. Here are some ways in which these different types of audio can help:

Binaural Beats

Binaural beats are an auditory illusion that’s created when two different frequencies are played simultaneously. If you’re wearing headphones, you’ll hear a different frequency in each ear.

What makes these binaural beats special is that your brain doesn’t hear both sounds at once. Instead, it hears the difference between the two tones.

Binaural beats can target certain frequencies and thus be designed to align with our natural brain waves. As Psychology Today explains:

“Some evidence suggests that the tone being perceived can alter brain waves through a process called entrainment, in which brain waves align themselves to an outside beat or frequency. Since different brain wave patterns are associated with certain states of mind, from relaxed to anxious to productive, binaural beats have been theorized to impact mood, focus and sleep by altering brain waves.”

For example, a binaural beat between 8 and 12 Hz aligns with our natural Alpha waves. These are the ones our body produces when we’re in a calm, relaxed state.

Here is an example of a 40 Hz binaural beat:

This is the frequency that’s said to improve one’s ability to learn.

There is a lot of research being done on binaural beats and their effect on our bodies and minds. That said, the results seem to be a mixed bag.

For instance, Lake Forest College shared the results from two very different studies.

In one study, patients about to undergo surgery were given binaural beats to listen to, regular music, or they could watch TV or read a book. The binaural beats segment experienced a 26.3% decrease in anxiety compared to only 11.1% in the music group and 3.6% in the no-audio segment.

But this could just be a case of context. With nerves super high in anticipation of surgery, binaural beats can be incredibly helpful even if they don’t get the person back down to a grounded state.

Contrast that with the 2020 study where they measured the neural activity of everyday people. In that study, they found that binaural beats did sync with their participants’ brain waves. However, it didn’t have much of an impact on their mood.

While binaural beats might not be a cure-all for stress or anxiety, they may be able to help if you’re experiencing these feelings at a higher level and/or for an extended period of time.

According to Healthline, different binaural beats can help with anxiety, stress, focus and even creativity. If you’re interested, experiment with targeting different frequencies based on how you’re feeling.

ASMR

ASMR stands for autonomous sensory meridian response. This refers to experiencing a sensation in response to audiovisual stimuli or even the touch of another person. The physical response is often equated with a tingling at the back of the head and an ensuing sense of calm.

Here are some stimuli considered ASMR:

• Whispering
• Tapping
• Scratching
• Crinkling
• Rustling
• Repetitive movements

According to Healthline:

“Not everyone experiences ASMR—some find such stimuli have no influence on them or may even have a negative effect, such as annoyance.”

So if my descriptions here feel like that, please skip down to the next point!

Now, for those of you who are receptive to ASMR experiences, this is an interesting type of audio to bring into your workday.

You could go to a site like Instagram and get a quick dose of ASMR. There are millions of videos with slime, soap, eating, crunching, tapping, cooking, crushing, cutting and other relaxation-inducing sounds, which are often paired with bright-colored visuals.

For instance, this one from @alla_asmr_youtube combines crunching and slime.

You’ll also find lengthy soundtracks on places like YouTube. For example, this one goes through a mixture of tactile experiences:

These show hands performing tasks like:

• Running through/along sand
• Playing with small objects in water
• Sifting through gelly balls
• Playing with popcorn
• Touching soft fabrics

While ASMR has shown to have a relaxing effect on those who experience it, there are other kinds of conditions it may be helpful for as well.

For instance, the Healthline article suggests that ASMR can be a good tool for people who have ADHD. If you’re having a hard time maintaining your attention while you work, ASMR sounds may be able to induce a flow state.

That same article also said that ASMR has helped people with autism.

“They found that it may help with anxiety and stress as they relate to emotional self-regulation. ASMR may also help with calming and soothing after a ‘meltdown’ or period of overstimulation.”

Again, it depends on how receptive your mind and body are to ASMR sounds. If this style of audio doesn’t bring you a sense of calm, then there are a couple of other types of audio you can listen to.

Nature Sounds

If you listened to that YouTube of the ASMR sounds, you may have noticed that some of them mimicked the sounds of nature. And that was likely intentional.

Psychology Today rounded up various studies that looked at the healing power of nature sounds like ocean waves, bird songs and forest sounds. Here are some of the health perks these studies revealed:

• Improved health
• Decreased stress
• Enhanced mood
• Improved cognition
• Improved attention
• Increased positivity
• Reduced anxiety

As for why these sounds are so effective, researchers suggest that sounds of nature can lower our heart rate. This in turn helps to bring us into a parasympathetic state (rest-and-digest) versus sympathetic (fight-or-flight).

In addition, nature sounds take us out of our heads. Rumination is what allows stress and anxiety to build. The sounds of nature invite us to pay attention to something external.

While a walk out in nature is the most effective way to reap these benefits, it’s not always the most feasible option depending on where you live/work or what time of the year it is. The good news is that you’ll find ambient soundtracks and nature sounds all over the place online.

YouTube, for instance, has free videos like this one which combines the sound of the wind with bird songs:

And this one which has flowing water and other natural sounds from the forest:

If you subscribe to a music service or a relaxation app (like Calm), they also have plenty of nature soundtracks to choose from.

One thing to be aware of is that one study found that people who were already feeling calm experienced a slight spike in their sympathetic (stress) response when listening to nature sounds. This could be due to the type of sound they were exposed to. If it was something they were unfamiliar with or didn’t enjoy, it may have been more distracting than calming.

So, when looking for nature sounds to listen to, give different ones a try. For instance, I had a sound machine I used to use to help me sleep at night. It had about a dozen sounds on it. I absolutely loved the water sounds, but anything with animals (like frogs or birds) kept me wide awake.

Color Noises

Color noises are another type of audio that’s based on certain healing frequencies. But unlike binaural beats which combine two frequencies to form a new one, color noises combine various frequencies. And they’re called color noises because of where they land on the spectral density chart.

White noise is the one that people are most familiar with. In fact, Bloomberg discovered in 2023 that Spotify users consume about 3 million hours of white noise every day.

White noise combines all noise frequencies that we humans are capable of hearing. This one is good for:

• Blocking out ambient noise
• Lulling to sleep
• Enhancing concentration (especially if you have ADHD)
• Creating a soothing environment

This is what white noise sounds like:

Pink noise also combines various frequencies. However, the power and volume of higher-end frequencies are dulled. This leads to benefits like:

• Improved memory recall
• Feelings of tranquility
• Deeper sleep

This is what pink noise sounds like:

Brown noise is the other color noise we commonly hear about. This one takes the volume of higher frequencies down even lower than pink noise. This results in:

• Improved concentration
• Reduction of stress and anxiety
• Improved creativity

This is what brown noise sounds like:

Green noise isn’t as talked about since it’s still being researched. It is similar to white noise as it’s a bit harsher in terms of high-end frequencies (it’s reminiscent of ocean waves or rushing water). This one is good for:

• Masking ambient noise
• Improving productivity
• Creating a relaxing and meditative flow state

This is what green noise sounds like:

Because each color sound is associated with different benefits, I’d suggest having a line-up of different soundtracks based on how you’re feeling on any given day. For instance, green noise might be best for when you’re already feeling productive and want a soundtrack to enhance your focus. But then you could switch to brown noise if you start feeling stressed or like you’re in a fog.

Wrapping Up

Stress management is absolutely crucial. If you don’t find a way to manage and release the stress, anxiety or other negative feelings that accumulate throughout the workday, over time it will have a negative impact on your mental and physical health as well as your ability to work.

While you can always wait until after work to unwind, listening to audio is one of the simplest ways to bring calm and control over your nervous system, body and brain. And there’s no need to wait. You can listen to the kinds of audio mentioned above while you work, even if it’s within a bustling work setting.

By the way, if you’re interested in other ways to use audio to improve your workday, here are different kinds of music that can help improve productivity.