Can you study with ASMR?

Concentration through noise?

"Be quiet, I need to concentrate!" - We've heard this phrase many times, so at first it seems rather questionable whether background noise can really help with concentration.

But many startups, for example, begin in a coffee shop like Starbucks. It's not said that the coffee is the reason for the location; instead, for many, it's said to be more because the ambient noise in such a coffee shop creates the foundation for working. Because the noise and presence of other people, makes it seem similar to a working day in a large office and you do not feel so "lonely" when you work as a lone wolf on a project.

Most people will also be more used to not being able to work completely without background noise from everyday life, because something or someone is always talking or making a noise. There is hardly any place where you are really undisturbed. And be it simply the chirping of birds through the open window or the gentle hum of the air conditioning.

Concentration during an exam?

At school, absolute silence reigns as far as possible during an exam. But somehow this is also exhausting for several hours, when you can only watch others thinking hard and no one says a word. Unconsciously, one's attention then falls on the few remaining sounds, such as the ticking of the clock or the beeping of the fluorescent tubes. One also quickly imagines that such sounds then seem louder than usual. The hearing becomes more sensitive and pays attention to the quietest sounds in the environment.

In the tunnel?

Those who go "into the tunnel" for several hours and work with real focus often put on headphones and listen to discreet inspiring music or even relaxing collections of sounds. Some people can also concentrate better with rather brutal sounds. Of course, this is purely a matter of taste. However, nature sounds, such as the splashing of water, the singing of birds, etc., are actually often popular.

Hallucinations in the quietest place in the world?

In the so-called Anechoic Chamber, the echoic chambers in Microsoft's audio lab in Redmond (Washington, USA), a new Guinness record was even set in 2015, with a whopping -20.35dBA! Yes, that's right, minus 20.35 decibels. For comparison, there is a silence of around -23 dBA in outer space. Microsoft is thus close. These chambers are actually used to test technology like microphones, gaming consoles, vending machines, etc.

If you are in such a chamber yourself, it is supposed to be so quiet that you can hear your lung function. Approximately 99% of the sound is absorbed in such chambers. In such a complete silence, one should not be able to stand it for a long time. The human being itself orients itself like most animals also at the sound around itself. If this is absorbed in the rooms however to over 99%, then one hears quasi only its own body. The heartbeat becomes louder and louder, you can almost hear the blood flowing in your veins.

After 45 minutes, even hallucinations set in, and so far no one has been able to endure longer in such a room. Many astronauts use such soundless rooms, such as the Orfield Laboratories in the U.S. state of Minnesota, to prepare themselves for the complete silence in space. In this room, a volume of -9 dBA was measured.