The BBC has launched a service with thousands of sound effects recordings and a built-in mixer for creating soundscapes

In quarantine, many people feel stressed, but then not only Lego, but also the BBC comes to the rescue: the company has launched a website “Soundscapes for Wellbeing” to listen and create relaxing soundscapes.

More than 33,000 recordings from the BBC sound effects archive — from nature sounds to industrial noises-are publicly available on the site. And from all the variety presented, each user can create their own mix.

Most of the records in the archive were created between 1960 and 2000. The first recordings were stored on vinyl, then they were transferred to film, then to CDs, and now they are stored in a digital version. After 2000, with the development of technology, the need for constant replenishment of the archive of special effects disappeared. The earliest record in the archive is a recording of the sounds of nature on a wax cylinder, which was created in 1889 by Ludwig Koch.

According to the BBC, recordings from all over the world are available on the site, so the mixes will allow listeners to travel in quarantine conditions. The site also features videos that tell you how to relax in the pandemic, and several ready-made ambient mixes.

This BBC project collaborates with the experiment “Virtual Nature”, the essence of which is to study the impact of virtual interaction with nature on the well-being of people. The opportunity to visit nature has a positive impact, but in the context of a pandemic, not everyone has this opportunity — and the BBC, together with the University of Exeter, wants to find out whether it is possible to replace a real foray into the forest with video footage.