Do you play the sims with volume off? Or listen to shows, podcasts or music while playing?

It really depends. Some days I'll play the game and not listen to anything else, other days I'll listen to a podcast at the same time. I don't tend to listen to podcasts that require me to be concentrating really hard because I'll miss bits here and there. I'm a newbie to building, so whenever I build I'll probably be looking at a few videos and different website for inspiration and how-tos.