White Noise

White noise contains equal energy in every hertz of bandwidth. Because human hearing groups frequencies into progressively wider bands as pitch rises, this makes white noise sound distinctly bright and hissy.

It is the reference case for masking: no spectral structure, no pattern, no events. Whether that is pleasant is entirely a matter of taste.

Generated, not recorded - though it approximates the hiss of untuned radio and analogue circuit noise.

Commonly heard: Sleep machines, tinnitus maskers, hearing tests, audio measurement.

Statistically flat, completely stationary, no periodicity.

Frequency profile: Flat power spectral density; perceptually top-heavy.

• Neutrality
• Blankness
• Mild harshness for some

Creative work

A calibration tool and a raw ingredient for synthesised textures.

Relaxation

Some find it soothing, others find it fatiguing - pink or brown noise is usually gentler.

Meditation

Featureless enough to disappear.

Focus

Highly effective at masking speech.

Sleep

Very widely used. Keep levels moderate, especially around infants, where paediatric guidance recommends low volume and distance from the crib.

Paste any of these into the Studio, or adapt them. They are written to work with ElevenLabs Music and most other text-to-music tools.

• Steady white noise bed with a slow filter sweep and subtle warm drone underneath
• Minimal ambient: filtered noise wash, no melody, gentle stereo movement

• The colour names come from an analogy with light: white noise is 'all frequencies at once', like white light.
• Reviews of noise for sleep repeatedly find the evidence base thin and inconsistent, despite the technique's popularity.

• The effects of white noise on sleep: a systematic review - Sleep Medicine Reviews

Sources are listed so you can check them. Where evidence is preliminary or mixed, we say so on the page rather than in a footnote.

• Pink NoiseEqual energy per octave - the noise colour that sounds most natural to the ear.
• Brown NoiseA deep, low-tilted rumble - the darkest and heaviest of the common noise colours.
• Library Room ToneNear-silence with structure: distant pages, chairs, ventilation, footsteps.