White Noise
Short answer
White noise is a bright, even hiss, like a radio tuned between stations. It has the same amount of sound at every pitch, so it carries a lot of high, hissy sound. That makes it the best colour for covering voices. Many people find it tiring for a whole night. It is also the most studied noise colour.
What White Noise Actually Sounds Like
White noise is the sound of a radio tuned between stations, an old TV showing static, air escaping from a valve, or a hairdryer in the next room. It is bright, even and a little rough. It also seems to sit in front of you, as if it comes from one place. Brown noise, by contrast, seems to fill the room.
The surprise is where its sound actually is. White noise has the same amount of sound at every pitch. But the high range covers a much wider stretch of pitches than the low range. So about half of all the sound in white noise sits in the very top range of what you can hear. You may not hear much detail up there, but you clearly hear it as hiss. That is why people call white noise sharp, and it is the reason the other colours on this site exist.
The player above makes the sound live instead of playing a file on repeat, so there is no point where it starts again.
How Flat Is It? We Checked
White noise has the same amount of sound at every pitch, from the deepest to the highest you can hear. Experts call this "flat".
We measured the white noise on this player. It came out flat, with almost no difference from a perfect result. We then used it as the reference to measure the other colours on this site.
White noise is also the starting point for all of them. Every other colour here starts as white noise and is then shaped. Pink noise turns the high sounds down a little. Brown noise turns them down a lot. Blue noise turns them up.
White noise also has the most sound in the range where our hearing is sharpest. So we set all five colours on this site to the same loudness, as your ear hears it. Switching between them does not make you jump.
What White Noise Is Genuinely Good At
Covering speech. White noise does this better than any other colour. That is why it is the usual choice in open-plan offices, clinics and consulting rooms. We understand words mostly from the consonants, the sharp sounds such as "t", "s" and "k". The vowels make speech loud but carry little of the meaning. White noise is strong exactly where the consonants are. So it does not just make a conversation quieter. It makes the words impossible to follow, and that is what stops you listening in.
Sudden noises. A door slamming, a dog barking, a car horn, a creaking floorboard. These are short and spread across many pitches. White noise covers all of each one at once, not just half.
Work rather than nights. White noise has the strongest case for use while you focus, and it is the colour where that case has some evidence behind it (see below). It also suits short sessions better than long ones. The high sound that makes it work is also what makes it tiring after several hours.
Small speakers. Unlike brown noise, white noise sounds almost complete on a phone, a laptop or a cheap Bluetooth speaker, because nothing important happens in the deep sounds. If your phone is the only device you have, white noise is the colour it plays best.
What White Noise Is Bad At — and One Real Safety Issue
Long nights. The high sound that makes white noise work so well also makes it tiring. Most of the tiredness from noise comes from the hiss. Eight hours of it is a common reason people give up on white noise machines and look for something deeper.
Low rumble. White noise has no extra power in the deep sounds. That is not nearly enough to cover traffic, air conditioning or a heating system, or a neighbour's bass. For those, brown noise is the right choice. White noise will not get there at any volume you could stand.
The volume problem, which deserves real attention. In 2014, Hugh and colleagues measured 14 infant sleep machines at full volume and published the results in Pediatrics. At 30 cm away, every machine was louder than 50 decibels, about the level of a quiet office. Three were louder than 85 decibels, about as loud as heavy traffic. Played for more than eight hours, that level would go over the noise limits set for adult workers. The study was about machines turned all the way up next to a cot, not about white noise itself. But the lesson is general: the risk is how loud and how long, not the colour. Put the speaker across the room, not by the pillow, and keep it only as loud as it needs to be.
People who find it unpleasant. Many people describe white noise as a hiss inside their head, or as tinny and sharp. That is not a fault in the sound. It is a real response to a sound that is strongest where our hearing is sharpest. If that is you, try pink noise next. Brown noise is the opposite extreme.
What the Research Actually Shows
White noise is the only colour here with real research behind it. So this is the one place on the site where the honest summary is mixed, not simply empty.
For sleep, the evidence is weak. Riedy, Smith, Rocha and Basner, Noise as a sleep aid: A systematic review (Sleep Medicine Reviews, 2021; 55:101385) searched three research databases and checked 38 articles for weak points. They found that the evidence for steady noise improving sleep is of very low quality. Noise app websites often cite this review as if it supported white noise. It does not. Read its actual conclusion, not the summaries of it.
For attention, the evidence is better and more specific. Nigg and colleagues (Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 2024; 63(8):778–788) did a review of many studies on white and pink noise and task performance in young people with ADHD or more attention problems than usual. Their finding was: white and pink noise give a small benefit on lab attention tests for people with ADHD or many ADHD symptoms, but not for people without ADHD. Two things follow. It is a small effect on lab tests, not proof of better schoolwork or daily life. And if you do not have ADHD, this result does not apply to you.
The idea behind this goes back to Söderlund, Sikström and Smart (Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 2007; 48:840–847). They reported that white noise helped children with ADHD do better on thinking tasks, but made children without ADHD do worse. They explained it with an idea called stochastic resonance: a moderate amount of noise can help the brain notice things it would otherwise miss. It is a sensible idea with a possible explanation, but it is still not proven.
None of this is medical advice, and none of it is a treatment. If sleep or attention problems affect your life, talk to a doctor.
Using It Well
Distance beats volume. White noise is bright, and you can tell where it comes from. A room soaks up high sounds faster than low ones. So a speaker across the room sounds softer and less sharp than the same speaker by your bed at the same setting. This is the cheapest way to make white noise easier to live with.
Turn it down once the noise is gone. Sound masking means covering one sound with a steadier one, so your brain stops noticing it. It only needs to reach a certain point. Once you cannot follow the conversation next door, more volume adds nothing except more sound for your ears.
Try it for work before you try it for sleep. The evidence points more towards focus, so a work session is the better first test. If it helps you concentrate but tires you at night, that is normal. Many people who use noise regularly use a bright colour by day and a deep one at night.
How It Compares With the Other Colours
White noise is the flat starting point, and every other colour here changes it on purpose. Pink noise turns the high sounds down a little. It is what most people mean when they ask for white noise, but softer. Brown noise turns them down much more and changes hiss into rumble. Green noise keeps the middle sounds and drops both ends. Blue noise goes the other way and is even brighter. It is more of a curiosity than a comfort.
For covering voices, white noise is still the best of the five. For most other things, one of the others is usually a better choice.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does white noise sound so hissy when it is supposed to be balanced?
Because it is balanced in a way our ears do not hear as balanced. It has the same amount of sound at every pitch. But the high range covers far more pitches than the low range. So the very top range of hearing holds about half of all the sound in white noise, and you hear that as hiss. Pink noise fixes this by spreading its sound evenly in the way our ears hear pitch.
Is white noise better than brown noise for sleep?
No research ranks them. The honest answer depends on what wakes you up. White noise is better at covering speech and sudden, sharp sounds. Brown noise is better at covering traffic, machines and bass. Many people also find white noise harder to stand for a whole night because of its high, hissy sound. Try both. Each takes about thirty seconds to judge.
Is it safe to use white noise for a baby?
Ask your baby's doctor, not a website. But one published finding is worth knowing. A 2014 study in Pediatrics measured 14 infant sleep machines at full volume. All of them were louder than 50 decibels at 30 cm, and three were louder than 85 decibels, about as loud as heavy traffic. At that level, more than eight hours would go over the noise limits for adult workers. The authors were worried about volume and placement, not the sound itself. Distance from the cot and a modest volume are what matter.
Does white noise actually help with ADHD?
A 2024 review of many studies, in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, found that white or pink noise gave a small benefit on lab attention tests for people with ADHD or many ADHD symptoms. People without ADHD got no benefit. That is a real finding, but a narrow one: small effects, measured on lab tests, not in daily life. It is a fair reason to try it. It is not a treatment.
Why does white noise stop me hearing conversations rather than just making them quieter?
Because of where speech carries its meaning. Vowels make most of the loudness of speech but carry little of the meaning. Consonants, the sharp sounds such as "t" and "s", carry the meaning, and they are fairly high in pitch. White noise is just as strong there as anywhere else. So it hides exactly the part of speech you need to understand words. The conversation turns into a murmur, not just a quieter conversation.
Is the white noise on this page a recording?
No. Your browser makes it live, as you listen, so there is no point where it starts again and no file to download. We measured it, and it is as flat as white noise should be. The app also has white noise, with offline playback, a sleep timer and no session limit.