Hey everyone, just updated to the latest version of Speechify and spent the morning testing the new 'ambient sound' mixing feature. You can now add background sounds—like rain, coffee shop chatter, or white noise—to your text-to-speech playback.
My initial take? It's a cool idea, especially for focus, but I'm a bit on the fence about its execution. I tried listening to a long article with the "coffee shop" sound, and while it did create a nice atmosphere, I found myself paying more attention to the faint, looping chatter in the background than to the content itself after a while. The "rain" setting was less intrusive for me.
A few things I noticed:
* The volume mixing is key. You can adjust the speech volume and the ambient sound volume independently, which helps a lot.
* The sound loops are relatively short and can become repetitive if you're listening for an extended period.
* I haven't found a way to use my own ambient sound files, which would be a game-changer.
I'm curious how others are using it. Has anyone found a specific sound/voice combo that really works for them? Do you think this is a useful addition for productivity, or is it more of a gimmick that ends up being distracting?
Maybe it's perfect for drowning out actual background noise with a controlled, consistent one. Would love to hear your workflows and if this has helped anyone with concentration.