At Work & Study

What we listen to has been found to have a significant impact on our ability to concentrate.

Researchers have studied how sound affects our performance. Groups of students were given a study task, whilst listening to either classical music, rock music, nature sounds, or even silence. The surprise result? Nature by a country mile.

It makes sense. Any music with lyrics is going to be distracting. Instrumental music is based around either predictability (Vivaldi, new age...), or drama (Beethoven, jazz…). Whichever way you go, it's either soporific, or it grabs your attention when you don't need it to. And perfect silence has been found to be equally unsettling.

Our senses and minds have evolved in the natural world. Nature's sounds are the brain food we need.

We've selected these recordings as subtle and non-intrusive soundscapes, allowing you to be immersed in a natural soundworld, while getting on with what you need to do. Effectively.

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A Walk in the Rainforest

The life of Queensland's tropical rainforests - waterfalls, birdsong, frogs, and the soft hum of insects.

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A Wilderness Lake

by Mark Brennan. Spring comes to the forested shoreline of remote lakes in Eastern Canada.

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Asian Meadow

Exotic birdsong fills an open pine meadow in Northern Thailand.

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Australia - Natural Soundscapes from an Ancient Land

A sound journey around Australia's unique landscapes and characteristic birds and animals

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Bialowieza II - Riverine Scenes

by Geoff Sample. The second of two albums of deep forest birdsong, mellifluous and distinctively European, from the Bialowieza Forest in Poland.

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Campinarama - The Unheard Amazon

by Juan Pablo Culasso. Soundscapes from tropical grasslands and riverine forests of a little known region of the vast Amazon basin.

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Canyonlands

The songs of Canyon Wrens echo off the sheer rock walls of a canyon amphitheatre in the American southwest.

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Cheery Bulbuls!

The delightful and cheerful songs of Bulbuls from the woodlands and forests of India.

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Cloudforest - Malaysia

A gentle album, featuring the abundance of life found in Malaysia's mountain forests.

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Dawn Chorus

by Geoff Sample. In a northern England wood, the rich sonic tapestry of a spring dawn chorus builds gradually, before waning to a spacious symphony

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Dawn Chorus: Tanzania

Morning Thrushes begin a daybreak of wonderfully rich birdsong from East Africa

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Dawnsong of Tuis

The beautiful, ringing tones of the Tui echo through a towering New Zealand forest

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Favourite Australian Birdsong

Our collection of the most beautiful birdsong from around Australia.

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Five Natural Pieces

by Veljo Runnel. Five soundscapes from Estonia, meditations on time and space in nature.

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In a Sheltered Valley

Morning birdsong fills a densely forested valley, while an occasional breeze stirs the treetops.

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In the Refuge of a Fern Gully

Birdsong filters through mountain forest in Australia's eastern highlands.

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Indian Woodland Birdsong

A perfect morning of birdsong from the Deccan woodlands of India.

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Kakadu - Australia's Tropical Wetlands

Dawn at the edge of a tropical billabong at Kakadu, one of Australia's most vibrant natural environments.

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Karri and Jarrah

Flocks of nectar feeding lorikeets and honeyeaters run riot through the tall, flowering forests of southwest Australia.

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Les Suetes

by Mark Brennan. Summer season birdsong and the sigh of boreal winds, heard in a Canadian lake shore forest.

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Misty River Dawn

Birdsong echoes over a tranquil river in the stillness of early dawn.

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Mojave

The Mojave desert comes to life as early morning birdsong carries across the open plains

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Native Birdsong of New Zealand

Kiwis, Kokakos, Kakas, Kererus, Kakarikis... the wonderous sounds of New Zealand's rare endemic songbirds.

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Northern Wetland

by Mark Brennan. A rich, sonic journey through the bogs, fens and marshes of Canada's Boreal wetlands

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Peskowesk

by Mark Brennan. Journey deep into the wild forests, lakes and rivers of NE Canada's Kejimkujik National Park.

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Pine Wood

In an old growth pine forest, the voices of Chaffinches, Goldcrests, Blackbird and Song Thrush welcome the spring.

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Rainforest Morning in Thailand

Morning birdsong fills an evergreen forest in Thailand, one of the world's ecological hotspots.

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Redwoods

Discover California's famous Redwood groves in a way few get to experience.

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Sequoia

The drumming of woodpeckers resonates through a grove of massive Sequoias.

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Serra dos Orgaos

By Juan Pablo Culasso. Two dawn choruses, recorded the same morning - one highland, one lowland - in Brazil's Serra dos Órgãos

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