Does white noise seem too irritating to fall asleep to? Try pink or brown noise

Imagine yourself before going to sleep. Pleasant darkness, clean bedsheets, and pure, crystal clear sweet glorious silence. Until it is suddenly ruined by a car outside, neighbours, or your cat rushing across the room with chaotic clumsiness. Can’t the world just let you sleep in peace?

It turns out there is a solution to that. You can mask disturbing noises with other noises. Seems counterintuitive, but it can work!

The issue with white noise

Have you ever heard of white noise? That strange noise reminiscent of a TV static or a hissing water pipe. It can truly help some people fall asleep easier and even focus better. It works by creating a background mantle of sound that masks and muffles all other disturbing sounds. And it’s efficacy is even sparsely backed up by research.

Although there is one apparent issue. If you’ve ever listened to white noise you might have noticed it sounds just awful! Like a high-pitched static hiss. For some people that can have the opposite effect on sleep and focus.

So what can you do if you’re one of those who dislikes white noise because of its annoying high pitch? Praise pink and brown noise.

More pleasant alternatives to white noise

Pink noise sounds like white noise but is middle-pitched. Instead of hissing TV static, it sounds more like drizzling rain or leaves rustling in the wind. Quite lovely.

Brown noise takes it to a whole other level, being like pink noise but even more low-pitched. If there was anything to describe brown noise with it would be a heavy rain with calm, steady thunder in the background. Something surely worth falling asleep to.

But, is all of this supported by scientific evidence? Frankly, it is quite scarce and still inconclusive. Although, in this case, that shouldn’t discourage you. If you want to try to fall asleep easier or focus better, by all means, try pink and brown noise.

For some of us, there’s nothing more soothing than falling asleep to an imitation of giant clouds discharging hundreds of millions of volts of electric potential.