
Ask HN: Is white noise good for you? - usaphp
I am wondering if there are any downsides of using white noise during work and&#x2F;or during sleep.
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FrozenVoid
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)

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Matthias247
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.

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petra
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.

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Red_Tarsius
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.

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

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ReligiousFlames
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.)

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dx034
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

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gdfer
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.

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caleblloyd
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.

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rossipedia
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.

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annmiller
Tried it once. Didn't work for me.

