White Noise: A Steady Hiss for Sleep and Focus

How to use white noise

Quieter than you think

White noise is heavy on high frequencies, so it turns harsh when it's loud. Start very low and stop as soon as it's enough.

Mask voices

A neighbor on the phone, a roommate's TV, office chatter: white noise has more mid and high frequencies, so it covers clear speech like this better.

Too sharp? Change color

If it sounds like an untuned radio and starts to grate, switch to pink or brown noise for a much softer sound.

For babies

Start at the lowest volume and raise it slowly, keep the speaker as far away as you can and never put it in the crib. Once your baby is asleep, let the timer fade it out instead of playing it loud all night.

When the library is too quiet

When every page turn and cough stands out, play white noise quietly through headphones so stray sounds feel less jarring.

What is white noise?

White noise has the same energy at every frequency. It's named after white light: white light mixes every color, and white noise mixes every frequency. It sounds like an untuned radio, TV static or a hair dryer.

It sounds bright and sharp because each higher octave spans more hertz. With equal energy per hertz, the high end adds up to a lot. Our ears are also more sensitive to the mid and high range, so at the same level, white noise sounds louder than brown noise.

The white noise on this page is generated from random numbers in your browser, so the sound itself uses no data. We matched the default loudness of all three noise colors, so switching colors won't make it suddenly louder.

Need it for a video?

The noise on this page only plays in the browser and can't be downloaded. If you're making a study or work video and need background music you can download, try the focus station, where every track downloads as a full MP3.