Which noise colour?
The answer is decided by one thing: what keeps you awake, or what breaks your concentration. Masking only works when the masking sound occupies the same frequency band as the intrusion, so a low rumble needs brown noise and a high squeak needs blue — and no amount of preference changes that. Three questions below, then a recommendation with the reason.
What are you using it for?
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Every answer, without the questions
The same recommendations as a table, for anyone who would rather read than click. Assumes you have not tried noise before; the two cases where you have are below.
| Using it for | What gets in the way | Start with |
|---|---|---|
| Falling asleep | My own thoughts | Brown Noise |
| Falling asleep | Low rumble | Brown Noise |
| Falling asleep | Unpredictable noise | White Noise |
| Falling asleep | High-pitched sound | Blue Noise |
| Falling asleep | Nothing in particular | Pink Noise |
| Staying asleep | My own thoughts | Brown Noise |
| Staying asleep | Low rumble | Brown Noise |
| Staying asleep | Unpredictable noise | White Noise |
| Staying asleep | High-pitched sound | Blue Noise |
| Staying asleep | Nothing in particular | Pink Noise |
| Focus or work | My own thoughts | Brown Noise |
| Focus or work | Low rumble | Brown Noise |
| Focus or work | Unpredictable noise | White Noise |
| Focus or work | High-pitched sound | Blue Noise |
| Focus or work | Nothing in particular | Brown Noise |
| A baby or toddler | My own thoughts | White Noise |
| A baby or toddler | Low rumble | White Noise |
| A baby or toddler | Unpredictable noise | White Noise |
| A baby or toddler | High-pitched sound | White Noise |
| A baby or toddler | Nothing in particular | White Noise |
If you have tried noise before
Brown felt too heavy. This is common and it is not a tolerance problem — brown noise falls 6 dB per octave, which is steep, and the resulting density reads as pressure to some people. Pink noise is the direct step down at 3 dB per octave. Green and grey are gentler again — grey is shaped to the ear’s own sensitivity curve, so it reads as even in loudness rather than even in energy, which makes it the least tiring colour over a long session.
White felt too sharp. The high-frequency content is why, and there is a mechanism behind it: sharp, high sounds engage the brain’s alerting response, which is old survival wiring. Brown noise has almost none of it. Pink is the compromise if brown’s depth is more than you want.
Tried both, neither bothered you. Then the table above applies directly — pick by the problem, not by preference.
Frequently asked questions
Which noise colour is best for sleep?
It depends on what wakes you. Brown noise for falling asleep with racing thoughts, and for masking traffic, snoring or footsteps — it is the only common colour with real energy below 500 Hz. White noise when the intrusions are varied and unpredictable, because its flat spectrum leaves no band uncovered. Blue noise for high-pitched sounds like birds at dawn. Pink noise when nothing specific is the problem.
What colour noise is best for concentration?
Brown noise is the standing preference in ADHD and deep-work communities. The likely mechanism is arousal regulation: steady low-frequency sound supplies enough baseline stimulation that the brain stops hunting for more. A 2024 meta-analysis found moderate positive effects on attention tasks, concentrated in under-aroused people — and also that roughly a third of participants performed worse with noise than without it.
What is the difference between the noise colours?
Where the energy sits. White noise has equal power at every frequency and sounds bright. Pink falls 3 dB per octave and sounds natural, like rain or surf. Brown falls 6 dB per octave, putting almost all its energy below 500 Hz, and sounds like a deep rumble. Blue and violet rise towards the treble. Green is weighted to the mid frequencies where outdoor ambience lives.
How loud should noise be for sleep?
45 to 60 dB for adults, measured at your pillow rather than at the device — the level of a quiet conversation. Under 50 dB for babies, with the device at least 200 cm from the cot. Brown noise is where this most often goes wrong: it concentrates energy where the ear is least sensitive, so it feels 15 to 20 dB gentler than it measures.
Which noise colour is best for a baby?
White noise. The evidence base here is unusually one-sided — decades of infant sleep research used white noise and the paediatric guidance follows it. The safety limits matter more than the colour: under 50 dB, at least 200 cm from the cot. A 2014 Pediatrics study found all 14 infant sleep machines tested exceeded 50 dB at full volume, and several exceeded 85 dB.
What if the recommendation does not work for me?
Halve the volume first — it is the most common cause by a wide margin. Then try the alternative colour the tool offers. If neither helps, a third of people genuinely do worse with background noise than without it, and that is a useful result rather than a failure: audio is not your lever, and two weeks told you so for nothing.