National Library of Medicine, Biotech Information The National Center for Biotechnology Information advances science and health by providing access to biomedical and genomic information. Pink noise is often compared to water and nature sounds, such as: For example, one study found that participants became less stressed after listening to pink noise, compared with the typical sounds of an intensive care unit. Pink noise is often used as a background or control noise because research has found that it is less distracting than other types of noise. Researchers have observed patterns similar to pink noise in short segments of birdsong, as well as in some urban soundscapes. Pink noise is prevalent in nature sounds, like wind and rain, and many songs or segments of speech contain elements of pink noise.

Pink noise is often considered more relaxing than white noise, since it does not sound as high-pitched. Another name for pink noise is 1/f noise, which describes the way its power is inversely related to its frequency.īecause of the way the human ear works, people perceive pink noise as having a pleasant-sounding, balanced volume across frequencies View Source, but the volume of individual pitches decreases by 3 decibels with each higher octave. Specifically, pink noise contains the same overall intensity in each octave Pink noise is a sound that contains a random assortment of all the audible frequencies, with more power in the lower frequencies. Most people are familiar with the concept of white noise, but emerging research indicates a lesser-known type of noise called pink noise may also have benefits for sleep. Many people use sound to block out external noises, in the hopes that it might help them fall asleep faster or improve their sleep quality. Read our full Advertising Disclosure for more information. Although Sleep Foundation maintains affiliate partnerships with brands and e-commerce portals, these relationships never have any bearing on our product reviews or recommendations.Writers and editors caught stealing content or improperly citing sources are immediately terminated, and we will work to rectify the situation with the original publisher(s) Inaccurate or unverifiable information will be removed prior to publication. A member of our medical expert team provides a final review of the content and sources cited for every guide, article, and product review concerning medical- and health-related topics.These internal links are intended to improve ease of navigation across the site, and are never used as original sources for scientific data or information. Some guides and articles feature links to other relevant Sleep Foundation pages.Each guide and article includes a comprehensive bibliography with full citations and links to the original sources.

All scientific data and information must be backed up by at least one reputable source.These include peer-reviewed journals, government reports, academic and medical associations, and interviews with credentialed medical experts and practitioners. We only cite reputable sources when researching our guides and articles.

The Sleep Foundation fact-checking guidelines are as follows: Our editors and medical experts rigorously evaluate every article and guide to ensure the information is factual, up-to-date, and free of bias. The Sleep Foundation editorial team is dedicated to providing content that meets the highest standards for accuracy and objectivity.

Waterfall background noise unit