White noise
White noise carries the same energy at every frequency, so its spectrum is flat — 0 dB per octave. It sounds bright and hissy, like an untuned radio, a fan on full, or air rushing through a vent. The player below starts with pure white; the pink and brown sliders are there when you want to warm it up.
Press play for pure white noise — random samples, generated live. Blend in pink or brown to soften the top end.
No timer set — playback continues until you pause it. With a timer, the sound fades out gradually at the end instead of cutting off.
Volume first: white noise's flat spectrum puts real energy into the high frequencies your ears are most sensitive to. Start lower than you think you need, and never sleep with it louder than the sounds it is covering.
What "white" means: a flat spectrum
The name is borrowed from white light, which mixes all visible frequencies evenly. Double the frequency — one octave — and white noise has exactly as much energy in the new band as in the old one: 0 dB per octave. Human hearing does not work that way, though. We perceive pitch logarithmically and are most sensitive in the 2–5 kHz region, so a physically flat sound is heard as distinctly bright, even sharp. That is the honest trade-off of white noise: nothing masks clatter and voices better, and nothing sounds less "soft."
On this site white noise is the raw material for everything else. It is generated as random samples in your browser; pink noise is white noise through a filter, and brown noise is white noise integrated. If you prefer the result with the edge taken off, slide pink in — or jump straight to the pink noise player or the brown noise player.
When people choose white
White noise is the usual pick for masking unpredictable, mid-and-high-frequency sounds: hallway voices, office chatter, a television in the next room. Its brightness is also why many people dislike it for sleep and switch to pink or brown. There is no hierarchy here — the comparison page puts the three side by side so you can decide by ear.
Questions
- Is white noise the same as static?
- Effectively, yes — television or radio static is white (or near-white) noise. What you hear here is the same thing, generated sample by sample rather than recorded.
- Why does white noise sound louder than pink at the same level?
- Both are normalised to the same RMS level (0.22) on this site. The difference is where the energy sits: white noise keeps full energy in the high frequencies your hearing is most sensitive to, so it is perceived as brighter and louder.
- Is white noise good for babies?
- Many parents use steady noise near a nursery, but volume and distance matter more than color: keep any noise source well away from the crib and as quiet as still works, and ask your pediatrician if you are unsure. We make no medical claims for any color.
- Can I download this as a file?
- Yes — the export button renders a 60-second WAV of the current mix in your browser. It is a fresh render of the same generator, not a streamed recording.