Finding the right sleep noise can mean better sleep for years to come.
If it worked, and your sleep dramatically improved, that’s great!
What Is White Noise?
Photo: Olivia Barr
White noise is a machine-generated sound that contains all frequencies.
It doesn’t occur in natureit’s purely a mathematical construct, Nicolino says.
Many sounds are similar to white noise, but they’re not quite the same.
The sound of white noise can be very staticky.
“For most people, it’s very unpleasant,” Nicolino says.
“Having a pleasing background sound can prevent you from hearing these little disruptive noises.”
Quite simply, without disruptive noises, you sleep better.
For warm nights or hot sleepers,tower fanswith a white noise feature can be quite beneficial.
It may be time to check out pink noise or Brown noise.
What Is Pink Noise?
Pink noise is white noise with fewer high frequencies.
To create pink noise, Nicolino says sound engineers take white noise and filter out high frequencies.
“Pink noise sounds kind of like rain,” Nicolino says.
Like white noise, though, pink noise isn’texactlylike any noise from nature.
Many people find pink noise more balanced and soothingalmost “warmer"than white noise.
What Is Brown Noise?
(For the grammatically attentive, this is why Brown noise is often capitalized.)
“Brown noise can sound like a really uneventful ocean surf,” Nicolino says.
“People seem to prefer the lower-toned sounds,” Dr. Pelayo says.
“People are going to choose a sound simply on what they like,” Dr. Pelayo says.
“Once people settle into a sound spectrum that they like, they stick to it.”
Fans of whirring noises will stick with, appropriately, fans.
Most sound machinessuch as a sleep fanemit only one sleep noise.
This works if you like the noise it makes, but offer limited options.
Other sound machines, such as the LectroFan from ASTI, offer many different sounds.
Someespecially those that feature nature recordingsloop the sound, which can disrupt sleep.
(True insomniacs with a long history of irregular sleep may need much longer.)
