We did this in our antenatal classes. They got us to hold the ice cude for a minute and be silent. Then they got us to hold another ice cube for a minute but have a conversation with our partner. When we were talking it seemed like a shorter amount of time holding the ice, even though it ws the same. The idea of it was basically to tell us to do stuff to distract us from the pain in labour, but to be honest, once I was in full on labour, I forgot all about distracting myself and just went into my own world nd wasnt interested in talking to anyone.