Chances are, working with headphones helps you get into a zone. With the cans atop your head you probably enjoy some combination of music, spoken word and even silence.

But you may feel a sense of anxiety cutting off from your surrounds. What if the door buzzes? What if someone tries to speak to me while I’m fully immersed in the composition of an important idea and an absolute smash is banging in my ears? In these moments it’s hard to maintain auditory awareness. You lose all sense of the room you’re in.

Fortunately, if you invest in basic audio capabilities, you can have the best of both worlds:

You get two inputs with most audio interfaces. Use Input One for your main vox. This goes to Discord, Slack, Zoom, Facetime, etc.

Input Two is for the room. Any mic will do for the room. Just crank its gain so that, when people in the room are speaking, you can hear them above the tunes. To toggle the effect, add a mute switch to the chain.