Focus
A wordless track with a pulse near 16 Hz, set by your answers to Off, Low or Medium. That’s the rate one study found something at. The evidence is weak, and the pulse is yours to turn off.
Music for focus and sleep. Hear it before you give us anything
Hum plays wordless music built in your browser, with a pulse you can see, change or turn off. Answer one question and the sound starts. No email until you decide to keep it.
14 days free. No card.
Hum doesn’t try to catch you out
We read 253 low-rated public reviews of two well-known focus-music apps, written since 2024. Up to 157 of them were about the deal, not the music: billing, trials that need a card, ads that didn’t match the app. That’s a rough upper bound from keyword tagging, read in November 2026, and the pattern is still hard to miss.
- A long quiz, then a price at the end
- The sound starts once you’ve answered the first question. You get 14 days before Hum asks you to pay anything.
- A free trial that starts by asking for a card
- Hum doesn’t ask for a card to try it, so your 14 days can’t turn into a charge.
- An ad for a sound that isn’t in the app
- The sample on this page runs on the same audio engine as the app. It isn’t a recording made for the page.
- Claims about your brain that you can’t check
- Each suggestion comes with its reason and how strong the evidence is. The numbers are on the science page, weak ones included.
Thirty seconds, right here
No account and no email. Press play, then turn the pulse off and on to hear what it does. Keep the volume comfortable.
That’s the end of the sample. The app plays on for as long as you like.
Set up my soundThe sample couldn’t start in this browser. You can still try the full setup.
Set up my soundWhat you’re hearing
The music is written in this tab as it plays, from a random seed, by the same code the app uses.
The pulse changes everything above 150 Hz. The bass stays steady. The study behind the idea changed only 200 Hz to 1 kHz, so this isn’t the exact sound that was tested, and stronger modulation wasn’t shown to be better.
Whether you like it is a fair way to decide. It’s a setting, and off is one of the options.
Everything in Hum, free for 14 days
This is the whole list of what’s there today, with the limits left in.
- 419 activities
States for your day
Focus, Relax, Meditate and Sleep, with an activity to pick in each, like reading, unwinding or winding down.
- 5made live
Generated music styles
Electronic, piano, ambient, lo-fi and drone, written in your browser as they play. Or choose no music.
- 52129 minutes
Library tracks
Short tracks of 2 to 4 minutes that crossfade. It’s a small library, so you’ll hear repeats, and it needs an account.
- 4pulse levels
A pulse you control
Off, Low, Medium or High, with the rate shown in Hz. Fit it to the beat, or set it by hand up to 40 Hz.
- 13layers
Background sounds
Nine nature sounds and four noises, mixed to your taste. They’re synthesised and haven’t been tested in any study.
- 5–9questions
A setup that shows its working
Each setting it picks comes with the reason and the strength of the evidence. Change any of it.
- 1change at a time
Only with your agreement
Nothing changes for your first 5 rated sessions, or 7 nights for sleep. After that Hum asks before it changes anything.
- 15minute fade
A timer for sleep
Fades of up to 15 minutes, and no chime at the end of a sleep session.
Plus tone presets and speed, favourites and a listening history that follow your account between devices.
14 days free. No card.
How the music is made
- In setup and this sample
Code in your browser writes it as it plays, from a random seed. No model and no recordings, and the tracks run 6 to 10 minutes before moving on to the next.
- 35 library tracks
Rendered by Hum Studio, our own synthesis code, with no samples and no AI.
- 17 library tracks
Made with AI: 9 sessions from ACE-Step 1.5, an open-source model we ran ourselves, and 8 remixes of those sessions. The library labels them AI Session and Remix.
Three steps, then four kinds of sound
- 1
Answer a few questions
Five or six, or a few more if you want Hum for several things. Pick as many answers as fit. Choose sound at the start and it plays once you’ve picked what you want Hum for, then changes as you answer.
- 2
See why you got what you got
Your plan lists each setting with its reason and evidence. Before an account, you can listen for up to 3 minutes.
- 3
Keep it if you like it
An email and a password, and a recovery code to save, because Hum can’t reset a password by email. If it isn’t for you, close the tab.
The four states
Relax
Music you like, with the pulse off to start. Add rain or a stream if you want it. Studies of real nature recordings report less stress. Ours are synthesised and untested.
Meditate
A slow swell, about 5.5 times a minute, to breathe along with. If it helps, the breathing is why, not the sound. Silence is just as good a place to start.
Sleep
For falling asleep: 45 minutes at level, then a 15-minute fade to nothing, with no chime. The pulse stays off. Use the lowest volume you can still hear.
What the evidence says, including the weak parts
Hum isn’t a treatment. A rating in the app shows what felt good to you, not how well you did.
| What was tested | WorseBetter | Published figure, 95% CI |
|---|---|---|
| Noise for attention, with ADHD or many ADHD traitsWhite and pink noise on lab tasks. Mostly young people. | g = 0.249 (0.135 to 0.363)13 studies, N = 335Moderate. Nigg 2024 | |
| Noise for attention, without attention difficultiesSame review, comparison groups. They got worse. | g = −0.212 (−0.355 to −0.069)11 comparisons, N = 335Moderate. Nigg 2024 | |
| The 16 Hz pulseWoods 2024 reports no plain effect size to plot. | Can’t be plotted | p = 0.048N = 82, online, 5 minutes per conditionWeak |
The pulse: one study, and it’s weak
People who reported more attention trouble did better over time at 16 Hz, with a marginal result (p = 0.048) and no independent replication. The first author works for Brain.fm and holds equity options, and another author held equity. The paper first declared no competing interests, and the journal corrected that in April 2026.
Noise cuts both ways
The same review found a small benefit for people with ADHD or many ADHD traits, and a small harm for everyone else. So noise starts off in Hum unless your answers suggest otherwise.
Music at bedtime
A Cochrane review of 13 trials found people rated their sleep better. Measured sleep may not change.
Nothing here rates strong
The best evidence is moderate, and it’s about music, noise or breathing in general. Hum’s own sound hasn’t been tested.
Read the numbers and the sources
Hum next to the other choices, silence included
| Question | Hum | A streaming playlist | Silence | Many focus-music apps |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Before you hear anything | Nothing. It plays once you’ve answered the first question | An app and usually an account | Nothing | Often a long quiz, then a card |
| What it costs today | 14 days free with no card, then paid | Free with ads, or a subscription | Free | Usually a subscription after a trial |
| What you can change | Pulse, rate, layers, tone, speed | Volume and skip | Nothing to change | Varies, and some hide the settings |
| How much music | Small: 52 tracks, plus generated sound | Far more than Hum | None | Usually a bigger catalogue than Hum’s |
| Evidence it shows you | Source and strength for each suggestion | None, and it claims none | Sets the bar: for reading, all background sound has a small cost | Varies, often one study or talk of brainwaves |
| Best for | Seeing and changing what you hear | Variety, and music you already love | Reading, and any time sound gets in the way | Bigger libraries and longer track records |
There’s nothing to catch you with
- Hear it with no account. The sample above needs nothing. The setup plays up to 3 minutes before it asks for an email.
- No card to try it, so your free days can’t turn into a charge. Hum asks for one only if you choose a plan.
- Delete your account any time. Your password is all it takes, and your data on Hum’s servers goes with it.
- No surprise price. If Hum starts charging, you’ll see the price before paying anything.
- No trackers. No analytics, no ads and no third-party scripts on this site or in the app.
Questions you’d want answered first
Is Hum free?
For 14 days. Hum is a paid product, and your first 14 days are free with no card. When they end, nothing is charged, and you need a plan or a code to keep listening. You’ll see the price before paying anything.
Do I need an account?
Not to hear it. The sample on this page needs nothing, and the setup plays up to 3 minutes of sound before it asks. To keep listening you create an account with an email and a password. Hum can’t reset a password by email, so you also get a recovery code to keep.
Will Hum help me focus or sleep?
It might, and we can’t promise it. The best evidence is moderate and it’s about music, noise and breathing in general, not Hum’s sound. Hum hasn’t been tested in a trial of its own. The science page has the numbers.
What is the pulse?
The mids and highs rise and fall in loudness many times a second while the bass stays steady. It starts near 16 Hz for focus and off for relaxing, meditating and sleeping. One study, partly run by Brain.fm staff, tested something similar, and Hum’s version isn’t identical. You can see the rate, change it or turn it off.
Is Hum a treatment for ADHD, anxiety or insomnia?
No. Hum doesn’t treat or diagnose anything, and nothing in it can tell you whether you have a condition. When the setup asks how often you lose focus, it only uses your answer to pick a starting point.
Is the music made with AI?
Some of it. The sound in setup and in this sample is generated by code in your browser, with no AI model. In the library, 35 tracks come from our own synthesis code with no samples, and 17 came from an open-source AI model, ACE-Step 1.5. Those are labelled in the library as AI Session or Remix.
What about binaural beats, 40 Hz or Solfeggio?
You’ll find binaural, isochronic, Schumann and Solfeggio tones in the app, along with a rate slider that goes to 40 Hz, because some people like to try them. They start off, and we don’t claim they do anything.
What do my ratings do?
They tell Hum what felt good to you, not how well you worked or slept. Nothing changes in your first 5 rated sessions, or 7 nights for sleep. After that, if ratings are low, Hum may suggest one change. It asks first, and you can say no.
Is it safe to listen for a long time?
Keep the volume comfortable: WHO suggests no more than 60% of your device’s maximum. At night, use the lowest level you can still hear, on a speaker rather than headphones. If you have epilepsy or sound-triggered seizures, ask your doctor first. Using it for a child calls for lower volume, with no noise layer at bedtime.
What happens to my data?
There are no analytics, ads or third-party scripts. With an account, Hum stores your email, a hashed password, your settings, listening sessions and encrypted survey answers. The people who run Hum can read your email and listening history. The privacy page has all of it. You can delete your account any time.
Press play and see what you think
Answer the first question and the sound starts. There’s no card to enter, and if it isn’t for you, close the tab.
14 days free. No card.