This seems to be the time of year that people get loud.

(An aside: I wonder if the rise of cell phones, with their attendant need-to-shout-into-them-at-times, has lead to people speaking more loudly).

I have been party to a lot of loud and somewhat aggrieved conversations, as my next-door-neighbor teaches the "hurdle" class for the majors (as in: if you don't pass with at least a C, you don't get to go on to take higher level classes until you do). There is also a particular individual around who seems prone to loud and rather self-serving "Aren't I a wonderful person" conversations.

And it's getting on my nerves. I need to be able to concentrate. And other people's words break my concentration. Well, I tweeted in some despair about the situation, and Lydia responded with a link to this website:

Simply Noise

It pretty much does the trick. I can still hear that people are talking, but I cannot hear distinct words, so I don't focus on the conversation. It's actually better when I really need to concentrate than music, because music has quiet spots (and some of it is vocal, which for me defeats the purpose of drowning out others' words).

I could also see using this if I ever had to have a really secret, really-high-privacy conversation with a student - the campus doctor and campus counselor both have white noise machines they put outside their offices and turn on if they are with a patient/client, so that no one else can hear what's being discussed.