"How the Hum of a Coffee Shop Can Boost Creativity"

• In a series of experiments that looked at the effects of noise on creative thinking, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign had participants brainstorm ideas for new products while they were exposed to varying levels of background noise. 
• Their results, published in The Journal of Consumer Research, found that a level of ambient noise typical of a bustling coffee shop or a television playing in a living room, about 70 decibels, enhanced performance compared with the relative quiet of 50 decibels.
• A higher level of noise, however, about 85 decibels, roughly the noise level generated by a blender or a garbage disposal, was too distracting, the researchers found.
• [And] now a new Web site lets you bring the coffee shop to your cubicle.
• The site, called Coffitivity...which is free, plays an ambient coffee shop soundtrack that, according to researchers, helps people concentrate.
  
  Learn more here.