The Times of London newsroom is playing typewriter sounds to motivate journalists

Like paddling a warship in time to a beating drum, so is the sound of a typewriter to reporters. But because real typewriters are inconvenient to use and heavy to pack in a messenger bag, the Times management has opted to using a speaker to synthesize the nostalgic noise. The Independent reports that the speaker came as a surprise to the journalists, broadcasting a noise described thusly: “The audio begins with the gentle patter of a single typewriter and slowly builds to a crescendo, with the keys of ranks of machines hammering down as the paper’s print edition is due to go to press.”

These typewriter noises are supposed to energize reporters, whom we can only assume were in the newspaper business before the late-’80s, when typewriters were phased out. Otherwise, it would just be annoying.