6 minutes

No stray sounds during a session — quieting the computer.

A notification chime in deep trance is not a cosmetic flaw. It pulls your client straight out. Here is what you can do about it — and what actually works.

First, so no false expectation forms: Hypnotika mutes nothing on your computer. This page describes setup, not a feature of the software. That is deliberate — a program that silences system sounds unasked would take control of your own machine away from you.

1 · The question that decides everything: is your client in the room or in a video call?

It sounds like a detail, but it is the whole difference. In one case a single setting solves the problem; in the other, only tidying up beforehand helps.

Online session

Your client hears only what goes into the video call. System sounds land with you — not with her. Provided the paths are cleanly separated.

Effort: set it once, then never again.

In-person session

Your client wears headphones on the same output. Everything the computer emits ends up in those headphones.

Here the only answer is to quiet the machine first.

2 · Online: separate paths — and the trap in them

When you work online, Hypnotika feeds the video call through a virtual audio cable. What matters is that two different devices are involved:

WhatGoes toWho hears it
Hypnotika output device
Settings → Output device		the virtual cableyour client in the call
Windows default device
System settings		your normal speakers or headsetyou only

As long as those two are separate, a mail notification cannot reach your client — it goes to the default device, and that is not the route into the call.

The trap: many people set both to the same device. The protection is then gone — and you do not notice, because the music still arrives. It only surfaces when a calendar reminder chimes in mid-trance.

Quick check: in Hypnotika under Settings → Output device, see which device is selected — and whether it is a different one from the Windows default.

3 · In person: here the machine really has to be silent

If you share one output — your client on headphones, you on a speaker or a second pair beside her — routing does not help. Whatever the computer emits is in those headphones. Full stop.

What does work is in the next section. And it contains a distinction most people are unaware of.

4 · „Do not disturb" helps — but not against calls

This is the most important sentence on this page. To Windows, notifications and incoming calls are two different things:

Kind of interruptionExamplesCovered by „Do not disturb"?
Notificationsmail, calendar, chat message, system notices✅ yes — banner and sound are suppressed
Incoming callsTeams, Skype, Zoom, WhatsApp Desktop, Discord❌ no — in practice they ring through anyway
Calling applications bring their own ringtone and therefore bypass the notification system entirely. Anyone relying on „Do not disturb" alone and then receiving a Teams call mid-trance has exactly the problem they set out to avoid.

Only one thing helps: quit those applications before the session — not minimise — or set your status there to „away" or „do not disturb".

5 · Where to find „Do not disturb"

Windows 11: Settings → System → Notifications → turn on Do not disturb.

Windows 10: the same function is called Focus Assist and sits in the Action Center at the bottom right. Searching for „Do not disturb" will not find it — hence this note.

Linux: the name depends on your desktop — under KDE Plasma it is System Settings → Notifications, under GNOME Settings → Notifications. The Linux build of Hypnotika is still a closed beta.

Why we do not recommend registry tricks: guides circulate that toggle „Do not disturb" through a registry entry. There is no official interface for this function; such edits break on Windows updates and, at worst, leave you in a state you cannot get out of. We will not send anyone there.

6 · The minute before the session — checklist

Most effective first. The first three points cover the majority of cases.

  1. Check the output device — is Hypnotika running on a different device from the Windows default? (Only relevant for online sessions.)
  2. Turn on „Do not disturb" — suppresses banners and sounds for all ordinary notifications.
  3. Close the calling applications — Teams, Skype, Discord, WhatsApp Desktop. Quit them, do not minimise. This is the part „Do not disturb" does not cover.
  4. Phone on silent and out of reach — it usually sits right next to the computer and is the single most common source of interruption. Vibration on a desktop is clearly audible too.
  5. Check calendar reminders for the session's duration — an appointment in the next hour will announce itself.
  6. Defer automatic updates — they like to announce themselves with a sound and a restart prompt.
If you only do one thing: close the calling applications. „Do not disturb" is quick to switch on and catches a lot — but the call that rings through anyway is the one that genuinely tears a session apart.

7 · And if something does interrupt?

It happens. What matters more than a perfect machine is how you handle it: a sound that goes uncommented is often not processed as an interruption at all. Simply keep speaking — and if needed, fold it into the suggestion („sounds from outside carry you deeper still"). That is classic utilisation, and it works for a notification chime just as well as for a car door.

One thing that does help: the session recording captures what your client heard. If you hand the recording over, you also get an honest report of how quiet your machine really was.

Related: Set up the virtual audio cable · Online session over Zoom · Audio setup · Session recording