Does white noise help you sleep?

Key takeaways

• It helps some people, but the evidence is modest. Small studies find people fall asleep a little faster or wake less with white noise, especially in noisy rooms. Reviews of the research call the overall evidence weak.

• It works by covering changes in sound. What wakes you is usually a sudden jump in noise, like a door or a truck. Constant background sound makes that jump smaller.

• Pink noise has slightly better research behind it, and brown noise has almost none. Most of the impressive pink noise results come from lab setups that play timed bursts of sound, not a machine left on all night.

• Keep the volume low. Some baby sound machines can reach levels that would be unsafe at work. Put the machine across the room and well below its top setting.

• For a loud room, earplugs come first. White noise covers small sounds; it can’t drown out a loud one without being loud itself.

The short answer

White noise helps some people sleep, mainly if your bedroom has noises that come and go: traffic, a snoring partner, neighbors, or a hallway. It isn’t a sleeping aid in itself. It works by making sudden sounds less noticeable against a constant background.

The research is encouraging but small. Most studies have a few dozen people or fewer, many were done in hospitals, and some found no change in measured sleep at all. If you already like falling asleep to a fan or a sound machine, there’s no reason to stop. If you’ve never tried it, it’s cheap to test, and a free app is enough.

What the studies show

Falling asleep. In a 2017 study, 18 healthy young adults went to bed 90 minutes earlier than usual, to make falling asleep harder. With broadband sound playing at about 46 dB, compared with the room’s normal background of about 40 dB, they reached stage 2 sleep in a median of 13 minutes instead of 19. Only the people who had trouble falling asleep at home also said they slept better.

Noisy bedrooms. A 2021 study followed 10 New York City sleep clinic patients who said their bedrooms were noisy. During a week with a sound machine, they spent less time awake after falling asleep, measured with wrist trackers, and said they fell asleep faster. There was no control group.

Older adults. In a 2026 trial in Iran, 60 people aged 65 and over either listened to white noise on their phones for 30 minutes at bedtime for 30 nights, or didn’t. Those who used it rated their sleep quality better at the end; the others didn’t change. Participants knew which group they were in, and the results were all self-reported.

A hospital trial with a twist. A 2026 crossover trial in the hospital compared a louder white noise setting with a quiet sham setting for older adults. The louder setting cut the number of sharp jumps in sound (17.5 dB or more) from a median of 24 a night to 11. But their sleep wasn’t any less broken up, and they didn’t rate it any better.

Put together, the reviews are cautious. A 2022 systematic review of 34 studies and 1,103 adults found that only six of the 18 white noise studies reported better sleep, and concluded there was “no strong evidence” for sound to aid sleep. A 2025 meta-analysis of 12 randomized trials found white noise improved people’s ratings of their own sleep, but the trials varied a lot, and many were of hospital patients.

Why it can work

Your brain keeps listening while you sleep, and it reacts most to change. In a tiny 2005 study, four or five healthy volunteers slept while recordings of intensive care unit noise played. Their brief awakenings jumped from about 13 an hour to 48. With white noise added on top, they fell back to about 16 an hour. The researchers found it was the jump from the background to the peak that woke people, not how loud the peak was. White noise raises the background, so the same noise is a smaller jump.

You might expect to get used to a noisy street in time. According to a 2014 review in The Lancet, people do get used to noise, but rarely completely, and some adapt much less than others. The heart-rate jumps and other automatic body responses to noise fade much less than the brain’s own reactions do.

White, pink, or brown noise?

The names describe how the sound’s energy is spread across pitches.

• White noise has equal energy at every frequency, so it sounds bright and hissy, like a detuned radio.

• Pink noise has equal energy in each octave, which puts more weight on the low end. It sounds softer, like rain on a roof.

• Brown noise drops off even more steeply toward the high pitches. It sounds deep, like a waterfall or a rumbling engine.

Pink noise has more research behind it, but the best-known results come from a special setup. In 2013 and 2017 studies, researchers tracked people’s brain waves and played short bursts of pink noise timed to their deep-sleep rhythm, which boosted those waves and improved memory the next day. A sound machine playing all night doesn’t do that.

Continuous pink noise has a few small studies. In one from 2012, 40 people had more stable sleep, judged from their heart signals, on a night with pink noise than on a quiet one. And in a 2026 study of 12 adults exposed to recorded traffic noise, continuous pink noise at 45 dB softened the effect of the traffic on their sleep. The authors asked readers to interpret it cautiously because the study was small.

Brown noise is popular on TikTok and YouTube, but it has barely been studied for sleep. The only trial we found played it to intensive care patients through an app on the third of three nights, after white and pink noise, so its own effect can’t be separated out.

In practice, pick whichever sound you find easiest to ignore. A sound that bothers you less is better than the “right” color that grates on you.

Sound machines for babies

White noise does seem to settle newborns. In a 1990 study of 40 babies aged two to seven days, 16 of 20 fell asleep within five minutes with white noise playing, against five of 20 without it.

Volume is the concern. When researchers tested 14 infant sleep machines at full volume in 2014, every one was louder than 50 dBA at 30 cm (about a foot) away, the limit recommended for hospital nurseries. Three were louder than 85 dBA, a level that, over eight hours, would be over the limit for adults at work. A 2024 review found some machines can top 91 dB. In rat pups, constant moderate noise slowed the development of the part of the brain that processes sound, although that hasn’t been shown in children.

If you use one for a baby, put it across the room rather than in or beside the crib, keep the volume low, and use a timer if it has one.

Is it safe to sleep with white noise every night?

For adults at a sensible volume, there’s no evidence of harm. The CDC’s workplace safety institute sets its hearing-risk limit at 85 dBA averaged over an eight-hour workday. A sound machine on a low setting across the room is far quieter than that.

A few researchers have argued that constant, unstructured noise may not be good for the brain over the long term. Their 2018 review argues the case rather than testing it in people, and the lead author works for a company that sells brain-training products, but it’s one more reason to keep the volume down.

If you have tinnitus, the NIDCD notes that tabletop or smartphone sound generators are typically used as an aid for relaxation or sleep. Talk to your doctor or audiologist about what suits you.

How to use white noise

• Keep it quiet. The 2017 study used about 46 dB, which is quieter than a normal conversation. Set it just loud enough to blur the sounds that bother you.

• Put it between you and the noise. A machine by the door or window covers hallway or street sounds better than one on your nightstand.

• Choose an even sound. Avoid tracks with birdsong, thunder, or a noticeable gap where the recording loops, since those are exactly the kind of changes that wake you.

• A fan works too. A fan makes broadband noise, and in a warm room it does a second job.

• Try earplugs for real noise. For a loud neighbor or a busy road, see our picks of the best earplugs for sleeping. Both are in our list of things to pack for sleeping on a trip.

Frequently asked questions

Is it bad to sleep with white noise every night?

Not at a low volume, as far as the research shows. Keep it well below the machine’s maximum and across the room, and use a timer if you only need it to fall asleep.

Is pink noise better than white noise for sleep?

Pink noise has a bit more research behind it, but the strongest results come from lab studies that play timed bursts of sound. For everyday use, choose the sound you find least distracting.

Does brown noise help you sleep?

There’s almost no research on brown noise and sleep. Some people find its deep rumble more soothing than white noise, and that’s a fine reason to use it.

How loud should white noise be for sleep?

As quiet as works. A study that helped people fall asleep faster used about 46 dB, which is quieter than normal conversation. If you have to raise your voice to talk over it, it’s too loud.

Should white noise play all night?

Either way is fine. If what wakes you is noise later in the night, like early traffic or a partner’s alarm, leave it on. If you only need help falling asleep, a timer works.

Is white noise safe for babies?

It helps many newborns settle, but some machines are very loud at full volume. Keep it across the room from the crib, turn it well down, and use a timer.