ChatterBlocker blocks background noise so you can concentrate

By Ricky Buchanan • March 20, 2008

ChatterBlocker plays soft sounds designed to reduce distraction from nearby conversations. The website claims that as well as blocking distraction from talking it can also be useful for:

Masking highway & airplane noise, etc.
Tinnitus (ringing ears)
Hyperacousis (sound sensitivity)
Asperger syndrome (with sound sensitivity)

The website describes how it works:

ChatterBlocker does not use noise cancellation; instead, it blurs recognizable speech with a soothing blend of nature sounds, music and background chatter. Intelligible speech is often the most distracting sound in the workplace. ChatterBlocker lowers the intelligibility and reduces the distraction.

I have hyperacousis but I found that the ChatterBlocker noises were themselves distracting, on balance it made things worse rather than better for me. I have talked to others with similar problems though and some of them found that the program was helpful to them. Everybody is different - download the demo program and see if it’s for you. It has been suggested to me that it works best when used with headphones and when the user adjusts it to the lowest volume possible.

I think that ChatterBlocker could also be useful for anybody who has trouble concentrating or is easily distracted for other reasons, such as those with attention deficit disorder or hyperactivity (ADD/ADHD), those with head injury (ABI), and those with disorders like cerebral palsy which makes them inclined to startle easily.

Website: ChatterBlocker

- Ricky Buchanan

Categories: Neurologically Impaired, New Software, Other Impairment, Users
Tags: ADD, ADHD, attention, block distraction, block noise, concentration, distraction, free trial, shareware

About the Author

Ricky Buchanan

Ricky Buchanan is 34 years old and the founder and main writer for ATMac. She's bedridden with severe CFS/ME or perhaps a primary mitochondrial disorder - the doctors are not sure. When she's not working on ATMac or her other websites she composes music, listens to audio books, does other disability advocacy, watches TV with her flatmate, and enjoys her cat.

2 Comments For “ChatterBlocker blocks background noise so you can concentrate”

Bernd Moerken May 6th, 2009 at 10:30 pm

Dear Ricky,

if chatterblocker didn’t work well for you (it didn’t for me either) you might want to try “Soundcurtain” on the iPhone. It has a “white noise”, a “rain” and a “harmonics” setting and adapts somehow to the environmental sounds.
“rain” and “harmonics” work very well for me, even in the office if someone starts to discuss something.
Ricky Buchanan May 31st, 2009 at 9:14 pm

Bernd: There are several “white noise” type programs on the iPhone/iPod Touch but I haven’t used any of them. It’s great to know that one works for you! Thanks!

Newest Posts

Accessing the iPad: Mouthsticks and Styluses

When Apple announced the iPad the first thing I thought was “how, as a quadriplegic with limited use of my arms, will I be able to use this device?”. Fortunately I immediately already had a pretty good idea on how this could be accomplished being that I’ve been an iPod Touch 2G user for almost 18 months. Ultimately the iPad is probably going to be able to do quite a bit more than the iPod Touch but the iPod Touch is still essentially the iPad’s “little brother”. So I thought I’d share the methods I use to access my iPod Touch in hopes that these ideas may be useful for people with physical disabilities hoping to get an iPad.

Accessibility and the iPad: First Impressions

As expected, at their press gathering this morning Apple announced their new product: the iPad. So what’s an iPad? Will the iPad be accessible, and what will it mean for accessibility in general?

Mac Video Tutorial Subtitles project

The Mac Video Tutorial Subtitles Project captions Apple’s tutorial vdeos in multiple languages, including English. They want to make this great resource available to non-English speaking users, and to those with hearing impairments or language processing problems.

Round-Up: Discount Software, Accessible PDFs, Best App Ever

Cheap Mac and iPhone/iPod Touch software on the 20th of January to benefit Haiti. Accessible Podcast/iTunes U Guidelines are now really accessible. Is Proloquo2Go the best app ever? And it’s AT blog carnival time soon - get your submissions in today.

Dictation For Your iPhone/iPod Touch

In December, Nuance surprised everybody by releasing two apps for the iPhone - Dragon Dictation and Dragon Search. Those apps are now also available for iPod Touch users and they’re free for a limited time.

Snow Leopard, Above and Beyond

Apple once stated that you could “Live the digital life in stylish simplicity.” This statement referred to the Mac Mini but it could easily encompass all of Apple’s products. What does this mean for the average end user? Moreover, what does this mean for the end user with a visual impairment?

ATMac

Assistive Technology for Apple and Mac Users