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Ask HN: Is white noise good for you?

21 points by usaphp 10y ago

I am wondering if there are any downsides of using white noise during work and/or during sleep.

rossipedia 10y ago
It should be fine, as long as you keep the db at a reasonable level. Prolonged exposure to as low as 85db or so (I believe) can cause permanent damage. But around 60db shouldn't be a problem. You can get db meters for both iOS and Android, just measure approximately where your ears are going to be.
Matthias247 10y ago
It's good for me for measuring frequency and impulse responses :) For audio: I wouldn't listen to it in any cases, it's not a natural thing and has too much energy in the higher frequencies. At a higher amplitude it would even kill lots of speakers, since they are designed for output power in low frequencies, not high ones. If you want to listen to noise (for whatever reasons) then maybe pink or brown noise is preferable.
annmiller 10y ago
Tried it once. Didn't work for me.
ReligiousFlames 10y ago
I use noise-cancelling headphones, which produce a constant, low-volume white-noise, most of the time, for sleep and in public (be careful to visually-confirm personal safety at all times). Not sure if there is any evidence as to harm or benefit, but I would postulate that reducing stimuli over the long-term may atrophy one's ability to filter out noise pollution. (When I was young, most noises would wake me up. In college, living next to a freight train line cured me of that and all noise sensitivities.)
BLMjkfdds 10y ago
That's racist
petra 10y ago
There's some research that a lot of it increase anxiety, cortisol and maybe anger. Maybe pink noise is better although I'm not sure about that.
gdfer 10y ago
I use it during sleep and have for years. It helps me sleep but I do keep the volume low. We got it recently at the office too and I like it. Just can't be too loud.
dx034 10y ago
I can't work with white noise but use Brain.fm for working. So far the only app that has really helped (although Spotify has some playlists that are similar now). N.B. Not affiliated with brain.fm
FrozenVoid 10y ago
It actually increases sensitivity to noise, when i turn it off. The brain likely adapts to constant noise by boosting the signal and when the noise is gone you will hear everything much louder/sharper. A much better alternative is waterfall/nature sounds on youtube, which don't rape your ears with hi-frequency near-ultrasound(white noise power at higher freqs is huge, and is likely to cause physical damage with long-term listening)
caleblloyd 10y ago
It used to drive me crazy when I worked at IBM. It was somewhere in the neighborhood of 60dB at one of my cubes there.
ralmeida 10y ago
I don't use white noise, but brown noise, which does not have as much high-frequency content, which gets tiring.
Red_Tarsius 10y ago
It's incredible. I've been attracted by weird sounds (vacuum cleaners, humidifiers and hair dryer) since I was a kid. That noise sends shivers down my spine, then my body feels completely relaxed. No side effects so far. https://simplynoise.com/ https://simplynoise.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5w8Vle2a0Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5w8Vle2a0Y EDIT: I agree with user ralmeida, I prefer brown over white noise. Analogy: pure white noise is coffee (focus, awareness, stress), brown and variable patterns feel like a soothing massage.

21 points by usaphp 10y ago

I am wondering if there are any downsides of using white noise during work and/or during sleep.

It should be fine, as long as you keep the db at a reasonable level. Prolonged exposure to as low as 85db or so (I believe) can cause permanent damage. But around 60db shouldn't be a problem. You can get db meters for both iOS and Android, just measure approximately where your ears are going to be.

Matthias247 10y ago

It's good for me for measuring frequency and impulse responses :) For audio: I wouldn't listen to it in any cases, it's not a natural thing and has too much energy in the higher frequencies. At a higher amplitude it would even kill lots of speakers, since they are designed for output power in low frequencies, not high ones. If you want to listen to noise (for whatever reasons) then maybe pink or brown noise is preferable.

annmiller 10y ago

Tried it once. Didn't work for me.

ReligiousFlames 10y ago

I use noise-cancelling headphones, which produce a constant, low-volume white-noise, most of the time, for sleep and in public (be careful to visually-confirm personal safety at all times). Not sure if there is any evidence as to harm or benefit, but I would postulate that reducing stimuli over the long-term may atrophy one's ability to filter out noise pollution. (When I was young, most noises would wake me up. In college, living next to a freight train line cured me of that and all noise sensitivities.)

BLMjkfdds 10y ago

That's racist

petra 10y ago

There's some research that a lot of it increase anxiety, cortisol and maybe anger. Maybe pink noise is better although I'm not sure about that.

gdfer 10y ago

I use it during sleep and have for years. It helps me sleep but I do keep the volume low. We got it recently at the office too and I like it. Just can't be too loud.

dx034 10y ago

I can't work with white noise but use Brain.fm for working. So far the only app that has really helped (although Spotify has some playlists that are similar now). N.B. Not affiliated with brain.fm

FrozenVoid 10y ago

It actually increases sensitivity to noise, when i turn it off. The brain likely adapts to constant noise by boosting the signal and when the noise is gone you will hear everything much louder/sharper. A much better alternative is waterfall/nature sounds on youtube, which don't rape your ears with hi-frequency near-ultrasound(white noise power at higher freqs is huge, and is likely to cause physical damage with long-term listening)

caleblloyd 10y ago

It used to drive me crazy when I worked at IBM. It was somewhere in the neighborhood of 60dB at one of my cubes there.

ralmeida 10y ago

I don't use white noise, but brown noise, which does not have as much high-frequency content, which gets tiring.

Red_Tarsius 10y ago

It's incredible. I've been attracted by weird sounds (vacuum cleaners, humidifiers and hair dryer) since I was a kid. That noise sends shivers down my spine, then my body feels completely relaxed. No side effects so far. https://simplynoise.com/ https://simplynoise.com/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5w8Vle2a0Y https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5w8Vle2a0Y EDIT: I agree with user ralmeida, I prefer brown over white noise. Analogy: pure white noise is coffee (focus, awareness, stress), brown and variable patterns feel like a soothing massage.