

This results in a low, deep sound (think: even more bass tones) similar to a roaring river. Lower sound frequencies are even more pronounced in brown noise than in pink noise. It’s also the most well-studied type of noise for promoting sleep.Įxamples of white noise in the real world include things like a whirring fan, a humming air conditioner, or a waterfall. This results in a sound that some describe as radio static. White noise consists of all sound frequencies humans can hear, represented equally. This creates a sound that’s deep, steady, and less “bright” than white noise. It consists of all sound frequencies humans can hear, but it emphasizes lower frequencies. To recap: Pink noise is all about that bass. Here are some others you might hear in your day-to-day. The range of sonic colors doesn’t stop at pink and white. Pink, white, brown, blue - there’s a rainbow of noise you never knew existed This results in a deeper sound that’s lower, less “bright,” and more balanced than white noise - like white noise with the bass amped up. Instead, the energy is greater for lower frequencies. Pink noise consists of all frequencies, too, but they’re not equally distributed. For example, white noise consists of all sound frequencies (20 to 20,000 hertz) distributed at equal levels. The “color” of noise depends on how energy is distributed over these frequencies. Frequency refers to the number of times per second a sound wave repeats itself, which determines a sound’s pitch - so 20 hertz is a very low pitch, and 20,000 hertz is a very high pitch. Humans can hear a range of frequencies from 20 to 20,000 hertz.

To help you understand pink noise and all other “colors” of sound, here’s a little intro to sound frequency.

No, you can’t actually see pink noise, and no, it doesn’t sound like the gentle pitter-patter of unicorn hooves on the rainbow trail to Candyland - but it’s pretty rad nonetheless.
