White noise is the ideal sleeping aid for drowning out loud noise from city streets

Mari Ramsawakh

Jun 27, 2020, 01:16 IST

White noise is the ideal sleeping aid for drowning out loud noise from city streets

You can use a white noise machine or download white noise apps on your phone.PeopleImages/Getty Images

White noise is good for sleep because it can drown out background noise from streets, cities, and other loud sources.
Numerous studies have found that white noise can improve sleep quality and duration.
You don't necessarily have to buy a white noise machine because you can easily find audio tracks on Spotify and YouTube playlists, phone apps, and websites.
This article was medically reviewed by Alex Dimitriu, MD, psychiatrist and founder of Menlo Park Psychiatry and Sleep Medicine.

Getting a healthy night's sleep is a struggle for over a third of Americans. So if you're tossing and turning but hesitant to try options like sleeping pills, then sleeping with white noise may help you get a good night's rest. Here's what the research has to say about how white noise affects sleep.

What is white noise?

White noise describes a consistent sound, sort of like TV static. Its consistent hum contains all frequencies that are audible to the human ear, ranging from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz.

This gives white noise a uniform and constant sound that can dull most background noise, says Azadeh Yadollahi, PhD, an investigator from the sleep lab with the KITE research team at Toronto Rehabilitation Institute,

White noise won't change or alter sounds as they occur, but it does make them less abrupt or disruptive for your sleeping brain. This called auditory masking. It is particularly useful for those who struggle with anxiety or other mental distress that makes them sensitive to their environments.

A common example of white noise is the sound of an air conditioner, although examples of white noise can be found in both the natural and artificial worlds. While white noise machines are engineered to produce a sound with all frequencies, there are natural sounds that also do the same thing, such as falling rain or a stream of water.

Finding white noise is now easy with many options like white noise machines, Spotify and YouTube playlists, phone apps and websites you can download white noise audio from. According to Consumer Reports, some phone apps are comparable to white noise machines without the hefty price tag and with a little more versatility.

What the research says about white noise

The effects of white noise on sleep have been researched for quite some time. In 2005, a study published in Sleep Medicine compared the sleep of four subjects with no noise, with the recorded background noise of a hospital Intensive Care Unit (ICU), and with ICU and white noise. The researchers found that white noise did help patients sleep better because it reduced "the difference between background noise and peak noise." In addition, they also found that the sleep quality achieved with ICU noise and white noise was comparable to patients' sleep quality with no noise.

In another small study, published in 2016 in The Journal of Caring Sciences, white noise was found to improve the sleep duration of patients in coronary care units from an average of fewer than five hours of sleep to greater than seven. In this study, 60 patients were studied over the course of a three-night stay. The white noise was used to mask the hospital sounds that were causing disruptions to the patient's sleep.

So while white noise doesn't alter the brain, it can mask noisy or disruptive environments to help those stuck tossing and turning find some rest. Getting that sleep can mean improvements in physical and mental well-being as well.

Other colors of noise may also help you fall asleep

In addition to white noise, there are different "colors" of noise that are available, such as pink, brown, or blue noise. The differences in these noises from white noise is in the amplitude of the frequencies being used.

Unlike white noise, these other colors will have different amplitudes of sound in different frequency ranges. Yadollahi recommends trying each out and seeing what works for you, since it's all based on personal preference.

For example, pink noise has louder lower frequencies and softer high frequencies. A study published in 2017 looked at the sleep quality and memory recall of 13 older adults ages 60-84. The study found that listening to pink noise during sleep not only helped the participants to fall asleep but also to maintain that sleep enough that they showed improvement in their memory.

The bottom line

The benefit of white noise is that there is virtually no drawback to trying it out, aside from the chance it might not be effective.

Before downloading a new white noise app to your phone, check out other factors that may be impairing your sleep routine. For example, you should:

Have a consistent bedtime.
Set time aside before bed to relax so your mind isn't racing when you get into bed.
Limit screen time, especially blue-light from screens, before bed.

Diet and exercise are also key in attaining a healthy sleep cycle. Adding in daily exercise at least a few hours before bed and avoiding a heavy diet can help you fall asleep faster, says Yadollahi.

White noise is just another tool that can be used to improve and maintain sleep to achieve greater physical and mental wellness.