Pink noise for sleep.

What is pink noise?

Pink noise is random sound whose power falls by about 3 dB for every octave you go up. Each octave carries the same amount of energy, which matches the way we hear pitch, so pink noise sounds evenly balanced from low to high. It’s softer than white noise and brighter than brown noise, and often sounds like steady rain, wind or a gentle waterfall.

Pink noise vs white and brown noise

• White noise has equal energy at every frequency, so it sounds bright and hissy.
• Pink noise sits in the middle: balanced, smooth and natural-sounding.
• Brown noise falls off faster (about 6 dB per octave), leaving a deep rumble.

Hear all three side by side on our white, pink and brown noise page.

What the research says about pink noise and sleep

Pink noise gets more attention from sleep researchers than other noise colours, but the findings are narrower than headlines suggest. In a 2013 study in Neuron, researchers played very short bursts of pink noise timed by computer to slow brain waves during deep sleep; this strengthened those waves and improved overnight memory for word pairs. A 2019 study in eNeuro using a similar method also boosted the slow waves, but didn’t find the memory benefit.

Both studies used precisely timed pulses in a lab, not a pink noise track playing all night. So enjoy pink noise because it’s a pleasant, steady sound that covers distractions, rather than expecting it to change your sleep stages.

Sources: Auditory closed-loop stimulation of the sleep slow oscillation enhances memory (Neuron, 2013); Closed-loop acoustic stimulation enhances sleep oscillations but not memory performance (eNeuro, 2019).

Classic, soft or with rain?

• Classic is standard pink noise: even and balanced.
• Soft rolls off the top end for a warmer sound with less hiss, closer to brown noise.
• With rain adds a light rain texture on top. Prefer just rain? Try our rain sounds.

Tips for sleeping with pink noise

• Start quiet. Set it just loud enough to blur the sounds you want to cover.
• Give it a few nights. Any new sound is noticeable at first; most people stop hearing it once it’s part of the routine.
• Let it fade. Set the sleep timer and the noise lowers gradually to silence instead of stopping abruptly.

Pink noise in nive

In the nive app you can layer pink noise with up to five other sounds, such as rain, forest or ocean waves, balance each one, and play the mix on a Google Cast or AirPlay speaker. Sleep Mode fades the whole mix to silence over 30 minutes to 8 hours, and downloaded mixes play offline.

Questions