Why are sounds described as colors, and why is it important to understand the rainbow of sound?
You’re probably familiar with white noise — sounds of a whirring air conditioner or a fan — but it’s not a catchall term for all types of ambient noise. In the context of sound, there are many “colors,” which refer to different types of noise with specific sound wave characteristics. Each color represents long-lasting patterns of noise frequencies that we can hear, ranging from about 20 to 20,000 hertz.
Brown noise, which sounds more like thunder or heavy rainfall, has recently had a surge in popularity due to ongoing research and social media testimonials.
What Is Brown Noise?
Brown noise is one type of noise classification..
Various sound classifications, or “colors,” impact the body differently due to:
— The potential the sound has to mask other environmental stimuli.
— The structure of the sound wave, as ears are more sensitive to higher frequencies.
— Psychological or emotional responses, like how certain sounds lend themselves to tension and others to calmness.
Brown noise is technically interchangeable with red noise, but the epithet comes from the way it’s produced: Its sound signals change randomly to produce the sound of static, mimicking a type of erratic movement pattern called “Brownian motion,” named after Scottish botanist Robert Brown.
[Read: What Are the Best Ways to Stop Overthinking and Reduce Anxiety?]
Brown Noise Benefits
Although brown noise is the latest sound trend to make its way to social media, scientists are still largely speculating about its benefits. Experts need to conduct more research on the effects of brown noise. The current research has only included small groups of participants for short periods of time.
But there’s a growing interest to see if brown noise might help health in the following ways:
— Reduced stress.
— Improved sleep.
— Enhanced concentration.
Reduced stress
There are many ways to elicit the relaxation response, the opposite of the fight-or-flight response that triggers stress. Well-established methods include deep breathing, meditation and guided imagery. Researchers suspect that brown noise may help elicit a relaxation response in some people.
“Maybe you find it relaxing to hear the sounds of the sea, so if you listen to brown noise that sounds like waves crashing, and it helps you, that’s great — as long as you’re listening at a low volume,” says Anahita Mehta, a researcher who studies sound pitch at the Kresge Hearing Research Institute at the University of Michigan. “However, there’s no strong evidence that listening to brown noise reduces stress.”
Improved sleep
While a research paper published in Sensors, a peer-reviewed journal, says that white noise may help with sleep more than earplugs, there has not been much research on brown noise specifically regarding sleep quality and sleep onset.
The aforementioned study also explains: “Several prominent international media providers are drawn to the use of brown, purple and blue noise as sound for inducing sleep because it is less disturbing than white noise. In addition, many sound sources with color noise such as brown, purple and blue are uploaded to media such as YouTube under the title of Sleep Induction. However, scientific evidence is insufficient as there are few related academic reports.”
Enhanced concentration
Despite anecdotal testimonials on TikTok, there is no conclusive evidence that supports the theory that brown noise helps alleviate attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, but there have been small studies suggesting that white noise might offer some benefits to improve aspects of memory and academic performance in children with ADHD.
“The findings would need to be reproduced by other studies, but if it works for white noise, then theoretically, there’s no reason why it wouldn’t work for brown noise,” says Joel Nigg, the co-director at the Center for Mental Health Innovation at Oregon Health & Science University in Portland, Oregon.
[SEE: Mindfulness Exercises to Reduce Stress or Anxiety.]
Where You Can Use Brown Noise
There are many environments in which you might find brown noise helpful for you.
— Sleeping.
— Workplace.
— Studying.
— Relaxation and meditation.
Sleeping
Brown noise may be a useful resource for you to get a restful night’s sleep. It has a soothing, consistent sound to mask other disruptive noises. Playing brown noise in the background while you sleep may help you fall asleep faster and achieve a deeper rest, especially if your sleep environment has a lot of other disturbances.
Workplace
Brown noise may serve as a workplace productivity enhancement. Utilizing brown noise in a busy office or loud industrial setting may create a more focused work environment by reducing distracting background chatter and other noises, allowing you to concentrate on your tasks.
Try incorporating brown noise through headphones, which will create a more controlled and less distracting atmosphere.
Studying
Brown noise can be an effective study aid, helping to create a conducive environment for focusing by minimizing external distractions. It may also help promote a sense of calm while you concentrate.
Relaxation and meditation
Try incorporating brown noise into your relaxation routine. It can provide a tranquil backdrop to meditation, which may help you release tension. Brown noise often occurs naturally outside, so relaxing outdoors is a great way to incorporate brown noise into your routine.
[READ: What Are The Types of Meditation?]
The Science Behind Brown Noise
What does brown noise do? Brown noise is able to effectively block out external stimuli while remaining soothing to the ear, due to being at a higher intensity at lower frequencies. Nigg says that one untested theory as to why is that it could strengthen the part of the brain that filters out extraneous information, called auditory masking. In other words, the brain might be able to muffle noises you don’t want to hear while amplifying the noise you do want to hear.
Although more research is needed, there are theories that brown noise could help with:
— Individuals with tinnitus, or ringing in the ears. Research shows that ambient noise may be helpful in relieving short-term tinnitus, though there is not conclusive research on brown noise specifically.
— Those with ADHD. Nigg says that a forthcoming analysis shows a “small, but statistically reliable benefit of white noise on tasks that are thought to demand some types of concentration or attention for individuals with ADHD or high attention problems, but not for those without those challenges.” How does it work? “It may strengthen the brain functions that amplify relevant information and strengthen the signal-noise ratio for goal-relevant information,” he explains. This means that individuals would be able to focus on relevant information and block distractions.
— Babies. Brown noise is often compared to the sounds that a fetus might be exposed to in the womb. For this reason, babies might find the sound of brown noise to be particularly soothing.
White Noise vs. Brown Noise vs. Pink Noise
White noise has long been the most common color of noise you hear about because it was the first well-established color noise.
“White noise has equal energy at all frequencies. To us, it sounds like radio static,” Mehta explains.
Now, it seems that brown noise has taken over. The hashtag #brownnoise has been used more than 138 million times on TikTok, and there’s a plethora of hours-long audio loops on YouTube, many of them with millions of views. You can also find curated brown noise playlists on Spotify and other music streaming platforms.
“Brown noise has even fewer high frequencies than white or pink noise, and you’ll recognize it as a lower sound. Examples would be the deep roar of an ocean wave crashing or thunder rolling,” Mehta says, adding, “Pink noise has more energy in low-frequency ranges compared to the high ranges. It sounds lower than white noise. Examples would be rainfall or traffic.”
Other noise colors include blue and violet, which have more energy in very high frequencies, like the sound of a snake hissing or steam leaking from a pipe. Green noise is a subset of white noise and sounds like a stream or rustling leaves.
Options for Listening to Brown Noise
There are many mediums you can use to listen to brown noise.
You can try:
— Brown noise machines, which are available at Amazon and other retail sites.
— Noise apps, like Aura. The Aura mindfulness app is a source for high-quality brown noise tracks.
— Websites, like an online noise generator.
— YouTube videos, which feature many several-hour-long videos of uninterrupted brown noise.
— Music streaming platforms.
Potential Risks of Brown Noise
Not only can listening to continuous noise during sleep mask important sounds, such as a crying baby or a smoke alarm, and affect the quality or duration of your sleep, but experts believe it may also contribute to hearing loss. After all, your ears need to rest as well.
You could be at an especially high risk for hearing loss if you listen to sounds with the volume cranked, which can cause damage to the ear’s delicate hearing structures.
In a November 2022 paper published in BMJ Global Health, researchers at the University of South Carolina found that people between the ages 12 to 34 were at high risk for hearing loss because they regularly exposed their ears to extremely loud sound volumes on their personal listening devices or at entertainment venues. The meta-analysis pooled data from 33 studies and evaluated hearing loss among more than 19,000 people from 2000 to 2021. The researchers estimate 23.8% and 48.2% of hearing loss was attributed to headphone use and loud venues, respectively, putting 1.35 billion young people around the world at risk for the inability to hear and in need of hearing aid devices.
“Unsafe listening practices are highly prevalent worldwide and may place over 1 billion young people at risk of hearing loss,” the researchers wrote. “There is an urgent need to prioritize policy focused on safe listening.”
Should I Try Using Brown Noise?
Researchers are continuing to investigate the health benefits of noise machines, but it could be years before there is enough data to support or disprove claims. In the meantime, if you want to give it a try, experts don’t see a big risk to listening to white, pink or brown noise as long as you practice safe listening habits.
Here are a few helpful tips to get started:
— Listen only for brief periods, such as 10 or 20 minutes. If you’re using brown noise at bedtime, put the noise on a timer to give your ears a chance to recuperate once you’ve fallen asleep.
— Limit other distractions. Use noise-canceling headphones, close windows and turn off distracting devices to maximize the benefits of brown noise and reduce overstimulation.
— Keep the volume low.
— Talk to your doctor if you have any questions or concerns about listening to ambient noise or about your hearing.
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What Is Brown Noise? 3 Potential Benefits originally appeared on usnews.com
Update 10/12/23: This story was previously published at an earlier date and has been updated with new information.
