If you find yourself distracted in a noisy place and struggle to focus, music might seem to do the trick, but lyrics or tempo changes can present their own distractions. Ambient sounds are a good alternative, and here are a few tools to generate them based on your taste.
Ambient sounds are available on streaming platforms like Spotify and YouTube—sometimes as playlists—but these ambient sound generators are more practical as you can customise the soundscapes and have them last for way longer. And some of them even have extra productivity tools, like a timer if you use the Pomodoro technique.
Soft Murmur
This one is straightforward and intuitive to use. Simple UI with common soundscapes. You can mix the sounds you want to hear and choose levels of volume by clicking/tapping on the sound.
It's available on the App Store and Google Play, and it's free. I only use it on PC, though.
MyNoise
This one might look a bit more complicated at first glance, but it is also easy to use. And it has a lot more sounds, and it has more controls over the individual sounds in each soundscape.
Some of the sounds here are in stereo—the ones I listened to, at least—giving it a surround feeling and making it more realistic. And it also has a timer that lasts up to 8 hours.
Ambient Mixer
This one is a little different. You don't get to customise sounds, but there are many sound templates that actually sound nice. They have votes on them, so it's easier to know the ones that probably sound nice.
221b Baker Street is Shcrlock's apartment. I loved the Sherlock Holmes series by Benedict Cumberbatch, so I was immediately drawn to the soundscape on Ambient Music. It sounds just like how Sherlock's apartment would, with his violin playing a bit of him snoring. Weird, but it was interesting to listen to.
So if you'd rather have ambient sounds instead of distracting lyrics and varied tempo in songs, these ambient sound generators may be great for you.
Images are screenshots