Stop. Listen. Hear that? Yep, it's the sounds of birds. Lovely. But we're all a tiny bit sick of it now, aren't we? What we'd rather hear is the sound of last orders being called, the roar of a stadium, the steam from a barista's milk nozzle. Not the new normal, but plain-old normality.
Amazon has decided enough is enough and has primed Alexa with a number of ambient background noises that you have all-but certainly missed.
It did a survey of 2,000 Brits to find out the sounds we were missing while in lockdown. Apparently, the sound of a restaurant/cafe is what we're pining for the most (70%), followed by the sound of a bustling beach (56%) - although you probably could get that in Bournemouth this week - and bars and pubs (53%) came in a close third.
To try and ease the deafening silence, Alexa can now play a number of background sounds that we are missing. Want to feel like you are having a drink with mates in your local cafe? Then ask Alexa to "Play Café Sounds".
If you want to feel like you are in a pub, then ask Alexa to "play Pub Playlists". If the EA crowd noise that's currently attached to the footie is not enough for you, then ask Alexa to ‘start stadium sounds’.
Others you can try include:
- Alexa, Open Airplane Ride
- Alexa, Open Office Sounds
- Alexa, Open Seaside Sounds
- Alexa, Play Farm Sounds
- Alexa, Start My Applause
- Alexa, Open Library Sounds
- Alexa, Open Highway Sounds
That's right, we are all living in a William Gibson-esque world right now, where we need tech to get our aural kicks. Three months into lockdown, though, and we'll try anything if we're honest.
If you haven't yet taken the Alexa jump, here are the best Best Amazon Echo devices around. And if you are looking for a decent drink at home, then head to our best craft beers guide.
