{"id":16193,"date":"2025-08-08T00:20:48","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T00:20:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=16193"},"modified":"2025-08-08T00:20:48","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T00:20:48","slug":"the-best-colored-noise-for-sleep-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=16193","title":{"rendered":"The Best Colored Noise for Sleep (2025)"},"content":{"rendered":"


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As a certified<\/span> sleep science coach and mattress tester<\/a> of five years, I’m no stranger to soothing noises being part of many people’s sleep hygiene arsenal. For some, the perfect soundtrack might be white noise. For others, it could be a different color entirely\u2014sometimes streamed on their phone, but often courtesy of a sound machine<\/a>. If your sound machine or app offers a variety of different colored sounds, how might you know what they mean, or which might be best for your brain?<\/p>\n

How Noise Is \u201cColor-Coded\u201d<\/h2>\n

Let\u2019s get our Sheldon Cooper<\/a> on for a minute and establish why certain noises are categorized into colors. Sound travels in waves, like light. The frequency of a sound wave, measured in hertz (Hz), is the number of waves that pass a certain point in one second. High-pitched sounds have high frequency (and short wavelengths), low-pitched sounds have low frequency (and longer wavelengths). The human ear can distinguish sounds from 20 Hz on the low end to 20,000 Hz<\/a> on the high end.<\/p>\n

As for the colors? In the portion of the light spectrum that we can see, different frequencies are perceived by our eyes<\/a> as different colors. By analogy, the \u201ccolor\u201d of a sound is a shorthand way of describing the quality of that sound, which is determined by a particular blend of sound wave frequencies. (People with a rare condition called synesthesia<\/a> literally do see colors from certain sounds, but that\u2019s a different topic.)<\/p>\n

Most people are familiar with \u201cwhite noise\u201d machines\u2014in fact they\u2019re pretty synonymous with sound machines<\/a>. Just as white light is composed of all the visible colors, white noise incorporates all audible frequencies of sound at once. The result is similar to the ambient<\/a> noise that is the sonic backdrop to your everyday life. Some liken it to TV static<\/a> or a fan running<\/a>\u2014which happens to be the key mechanism in one of my favorite sound machines, the Snooz (see below).<\/p>\n

Circling back to the 20,000 kilohertz that humans can hear\u2014white noise is all of that, all at once<\/a>. If you live in a louder environment, like a city or with roommates, white noise may be a helpful tool for you. It won\u2019t \u201ccancel out<\/a>\u201d sounds like horns honking, the way noise-canceling headphones<\/a> do, but it can \u201cmask\u201d disruptive sounds. Essentially, the combined frequencies dull down the loud noises so that your brain doesn\u2019t pick up on them as much.<\/p>\n

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Photograph: Julia Forbes<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Snooz<\/p>\n

Smart White Noise Sound Machine<\/h3>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Pink Noise<\/h2>\n

Some argue that pink noise<\/a> is the best sound for sleeping. Like white noise, it contains all the frequencies we can hear, but it emphasizes the lower frequencies instead of putting all frequencies at the same loudness, as white noise does. This results in what some describe as a \u201cflat noise\u201d that is perceptibly softer. It\u2019s often likened to rainfall or ocean waves Some studies have shown that it promotes deeper sleep<\/a> and also calms brain activity so you fall asleep faster.<\/p>\n

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