Do white noise machines help you sleep

What is White Noise

White noise has become a blanket description for just about any type of background noise that is not unpleasant. I say not unpleasant because many people have different descriptions of what is pleasant and unpleasant. The true definition of white noise describes it as noise that stimulates equally on all frequencies.

How White Noise Works

The reason that white noise machines are effective at helping people sleep is because they remove distractions. The white noise simply masks other sounds and fills your head with noise that is not noticeable. People sleeping with fans is an example of self medication of white noise. It is not uncommon for people to have difficulty sleeping without fans after they have grown used to the white noise and air movement. People have been using this technique to induce sleep for many years prior to the introduction of actual white noise machine.

Pink Noise?

Many products on the market that sell themselves as white noise are actually described as pink noise. Pink noise is pleasant sounds such as waves, wind, rain, or calm music. It is relaxing and can often fill the mind with enough unstimulating distraction to serve a similar purpose to white noise. The main difference is that it does not mask background noise as well because the sound usually does not cover all frequencies. Which means that background noise has a high chance of piercing the veil of distraction and causing the brain to loose focus.

Common Uses of White Noise

There are many uses for white noise machines and they are becoming increasingly common. Aside from the most obvious example of helping people sleep they are also used to help people overcome insomnia. Sufferers of tinnitus, the ringing in the ears, find white noise can effectively cancel out the background noise that becomes increasingly maddening and disturbing. If you have ever taken a hearing test you will most likely recall the static noise that is played in one or both ears during the test. This is white noise and it helps the audiologist determine which frequencies of your hearing may be damaged.

Out side of the medical and health world white noise is gaining traction in the office. It has been found that offices that employ constant white noise have higher levels of productivity because of fewer noise related distractions. White noise machines are also being used as audio privacy systems for numerous applications.

Common Manufactures

Common manufactures are Marpac, Ecotones, Sound Oasis, and Obus Forme, as well as many others and audio producers. You can even get an iphone app for white noise. Prices vary considerably depending on features functions and actually applications.

If you have sleep difficulty it is very likely that it could be related to noise distractions. Try a white noise machine and you could be sleeping better than ever.