Low and comfortable. On most phones and laptops that lands somewhere between 10% and 50% on the volume slider, and the exact spot is personal preference.
The test is simple. Turn it up until you can clearly hear the music or nature sounds when you pay attention, then bring it back down a notch.
- You can hear the background audio when you listen for it.
- It slips out of your attention when you go back to what you were doing.
- It never wakes you and never makes you reach for the volume button.
Set it once with the headphones or speakers you plan to use, then leave it there. Volume scales differ from device to device, so a phone at 30% and a laptop at 30% are rarely the same loudness. Trust your ears over the number on the screen.
Why quiet still works
The affirmations sit underneath the masking audio on purpose. You are not meant to pick them out word for word, and turning the track up to try does not add anything to the result. Your subconscious picks them up at a low level, which is exactly how the format is built. Here is what you actually hear when you press play.
There is no bonus for straining. Listening hard for the voices makes a session tiring, and a tiring session is one you stop doing after a few days. Put the track on, let it run, and get on with your day.
Volume for work and for sleep
While you work, keep it low enough to stay in the background. If you catch yourself listening to the track instead of your task, drop it a few percent.
Overnight, stay at the lower end of the range. It should sit under the noise of the room and never pull you out of sleep. If you ever wake up and the track is the reason, it was too loud the night before. More on listening while you sleep.
Headphones make low volumes easier
The affirmations are split across your left and right ear, so headphones give you the fuller version of the track. They also make quiet listening easier, because nothing in the room competes with the audio. Speakers work fine as well. You may just nudge the slider up a little to reach the same comfortable level.
When in doubt, go lower
A volume you are happy to live with is a volume you will keep using, and consistency is what does the work here. Most people notice changes after 2 to 4 weeks of steady listening, with deeper shifts after 2 to 3 months, so the number on your slider matters far less than how often you press play.