All about white noise (and pink and brown noise too!)
No matter the age of your child, if you’re on the hunt for concrete advice to improve sleep immediately - whether you’re struggling with short naps, difficulty falling asleep, night wakes, or early morning rising - one of my foundational recommendations is to invest in a sound machine. Sound machines are nifty little devices that produce an ongoing sound for as long as the device is turned on. Often called “white noise machines,” sound machines produce one or more types of sounds that can be categorized as white, pink, or brown noise (more on that below). If you don’t already have one, I STRONGLY recommend buying one right after you finish reading this post.
Do I really need to buy another baby product?
Listen, I am not a gadgets person (why buy a bottle warmer when you can warm a bottle in a pot of water?). And I especially don’t like products with short-lived use (my personal experience with the magic merlin sleep suit). But if you asked me my top must-have baby/toddler products, a sound machine would be #1 on my list. Sound machines are SO USEFUL for achieving and maintaining healthy sleep because they:
mask extraneous noises that may wake your child from sleep
are a wonderful sleep cue during the nap/bedtime routine
provide a continuous sleep cue during sleep so your child is more easily able to move through light sleep phases rather than waking fully
are portable sleep cues that can accompany you in the car, on vacation, to grandparent’s houses, and even to daycare!
White noise? Pink noise? Brown noise? What’s with all the colors?
The general hum of background noise is often termed “white noise,” but background noise actually can be subdivided into many colors.
White noise contains all high, medium, and low frequencies of sound in the sound spectrum. Because it includes the highest sound frequencies, white noise can sound a little “harsh” to some. Common examples of white noise include the sounds from a fan, vacuum, or air conditioning.
Pink noise is white noise minus the highest sound frequencies. Sounds like rain falling or a rushing river fall under the category of pink noise.
Brown noise contains even fewer high sound frequencies than pink noise, leading to an overall richer and deeper sound which many people find soothing. The sounds of a shower running or thunder rumbling are examples of brown noise.
Believe it or not the rainbow of sounds includes blue noise and violet noise too! But those contain mostly high sound frequencies and generally are not used for soothing purposes.
What are the benefits of white, pink, or brown noise?
As I noted above, the continuous whoosh of white/pink/brown noise is an important (and highly portable) sleep cue at nap/bedtime and a great continuous sleep cue to keep your child sleeping soundly. Functionally, white/pink/brown noise absolutely masks extraneous noises that can wake or startle sensitive sleepers.
Aside from the huge benefits to your child’s quality of sleep, studies show that the consistent hum of white noise helps to settle crying babies, improves reading skills and memory recall in children with reading disabilities, and may even help in pain reduction in babies undergoing medical procedures. White noise can also improve attention in preschoolers with ADHD and older children with ADHD.
I wasn’t able to find any useful studies studying differences in the effects of white versus pink or brown noise on sleep or other health factors. It seems that whether you choose the sound of a fan versus the sound of rushing water is a matter of personal preference.
Are there any disadvantages to sound machines?
Too-loud sounds over a prolonged period can be detrimental to auditory health (we’re talking about standing in front of the speakers at a concert, or repeatedly listening to loud music through your ear buds). As long as you make sure your child’s white noise machine is at least 7 feet from your child’s head and on the lowest effective volume, there is no concern for noise-related hearing loss.
There have been some rumors circulating that long-term use of white noise may lead to auditory-processing disorders in children but I have been unable to find a shred of data or evidence to back up this claim. Beware of pseudo-scientific claims! Make sure you read the data yourself.
The only potential disadvantage that I can think of is fostering a “dependence” on sound machines for good sleep. This may show up as a disadvantage when your child is in daycare and the sound machine isn’t as loud as usual, or if there is no sound machine at all (**always ask your daycare provider if you can send a sound machine in for your child - it never hurts to ask!). This can also become problematic if your child is invited to a sleepover and the friend or cousin does not sleep with a sound machine. And what if your child is going away to overnight camp? For these reasons I do think it is a good idea to practice lowering or turning off your older child’s sound machine every once in a while, to set them up for success in a variety of sleep environments if that’s important to your family.
How to use sound machines safely
Place the sound machine at least 7 feet away from your child’s head.
Make sure the decibel level of the sound machine clocks in at 50dB or less.
Turn the sound machine off when your child is awake.
Keep any cords from the sound machine wrapped up and out of reach of your child’s crib and curious hands.
When should I stop using a sound machine for my child?
There is no hard and fast rule that you have to say goodbye to sound machines once your child reaches a certain age. My elementary-school aged children still love their sound machines! And many adults profess to sleep better with sound machines too.
A little anecdote - Once when my daughter was 4 she started complaining that the sound machine was bothering her. We tried turning it quieter and quieter but she just wanted it off. So we complied, and for the next few nights my daughter woke up in the middle of the night for no apparent reason, She just walked into our room and asked us to put her back to bed. This was totally out of character! After 4 days of this I suggested to her that we try using the sound machine again to help her sleep better at night so she would feel more rested during the day. We restarted it at a low decibel level and she went back to sleeping through the night.
Is there a sound machine you recommend?
I have always been partial to the Yogasleep brand of sound machines, we have used their regular and travel sound machines since my children were infants and they have lasted through years and years of daily use. I will note that the majority of families I work with have a Hatch sound machine/night light combos - they seem to be the baby product of choice these days! In all honesty - it doesn’t matter which product you choose as long as you and your child find the sound soothing.
Rachel Glantz is the certified pediatric sleep consultant and founder of Pine Street Sleep LLC.
