Some people find white noise helps them focus or sleep, and in macOS Ventura, Apple gives users a variety of sounds to choose from. It’s not an obvious feature, but if you know how to enable background sounds, you can set your Mac to play from a set of soothing sounds like rain or dark noise. . Here’s how to set it up.
- Time to complete: 5 minutes
Necessary tools: macOS Ventura
Accessibility System Settings
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Open system settings (apple menu > System Parameters), and in the left column, select Accessibility. Scroll to Hearing section and click audio. Scroll down until you see the background noise section, where you will find these settings:
- background noise: Flip the switch to turn it on/off.
- background sound: Click it Picking out button to select the desired sound. There are six choices included in macOS Ventura:
- Balanced noise: similar to low static
- Bright Noise: static with lighter bass
- Dark Noise: static with heavier bass
- Ocean: sounds heard while walking on a beach
- Rain: moderate to heavy downpour
- Stream: a babbling brook
- Background sounds volume: a slider to adjust the level.
- Turn off background noise when your Mac isn’t in use: Turn on the switch if you want the sound to mute when the lock screen or screen saver activates.
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Background sounds continue to play if you play other media, such as Apple Music or YouTube. You can turn off background sounds through the menu bar or control center, but you need to enable this access first.
In System Settings, click Control center in the left column. Scroll to Hearing section, then toggle the switch for either Show in menu bar, Show in Control Centeror both.
Turn off background sounds
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After performing step 2, you should find a Hearing icon (an ear) in the menu bar and/or in the Control Center. Click the icon to control background sounds – turn them on/off, change the sound or adjust the volume.
