Your Mac Has a Hidden White Noise Generator
If you want to block out ambient noise or just like white noise in the background while you work, you should try your Mac’s white noise generator. This feature is actually built into every Mac with macOS Ventura , you just need to know where to find it.
How to enable background sounds in macOS Ventura
You can find the white noise generator in your Mac’s settings menu. Click the Apple logo in the top left corner of the screen and choose System Preferences . Then select ” Accessibility ” from the left sidebar and click ” Audio ” from the right pane. Go to the Background Sounds section to enable background sounds . Once you have done this, you will be able to choose from many different sounds for your Mac. Click the ” Select ” button next to Background Audio and you’ll see the following options:
- Balanced Noise
- bright noise
- dark noise
- Ocean
- Rain
- Stream
Click the download button next to the sounds you want to download. This will save them to your Mac so you can play them even when you’re offline.
There are some useful options on the previous settings page that you should also check out. The first one is ” Background Sounds Volume ” which allows you to set the volume level for audio files. Once you’ve chosen a comfortable volume, turn on the Turn off background sounds when your Mac is not in use option. This setting disables sounds when your Mac goes to sleep.
How to Create White Noise on Old Versions of macOS
Unfortunately, the Apple Background Sounds feature is limited to Mac computers that can run Ventura . If you have an older Mac, you can use other tools to play white noise in the background. Music streaming services usually have a pretty good collection of white noise. Here are some examples on Spotify , Apple Music and YouTube . Alternatively, you can try white noise apps like Noizio .