White Noise Generator (Brown, Pink & Rain Sounds)

How to use this white noise generator

Pick a preset and press Play. Sound fades in over about a second, and pausing fades out instead of cutting off abruptly.

• Mixer: turn on any combination of white, pink and brown noise, rain, ocean, wind, fan and shush, and set each volume. Changes apply instantly while playing.
• Sleep timer: choose 15 minutes to 2 hours. The sound fades out gradually before it stops, so it will not jolt you awake.
• Save mix: name a combination you like and recall it in one tap. Mixes are stored only in this browser.
• Black screen: covers the screen in black and keeps it from sleeping, so there is no light at your bedside and the phone does not lock and cut the sound. Tap to return.
• Share link: send your current mix to someone so they can play the same sounds.

White vs pink vs brown noise

All three are steady hissing sounds; they differ in how much energy sits in high versus low frequencies.

• White noise has equal energy at every frequency. To our ears it sounds bright and hissy, like TV static, and it is good at masking speech.
• Pink noise drops 3 dB per octave, so each octave carries equal energy. It sounds softer and closer to steady rain.
• Brown noise (also called red or Brownian noise) drops 6 dB per octave, so low frequencies dominate. It sounds like a distant waterfall or an airplane cabin and suits people who find treble irritating.

Generated live, not recorded

Every sound here is synthesized in real time by your browser with the Web Audio API. There are no recordings, so there is no loop seam or repeating section, no data use after the page loads, and hours of playback never repeat.

Rain layers a soft hiss with randomly scattered large and small drops. Ocean waves move the loudness and brightness of low noise in swells every 7 to 13 seconds. Wind slowly sweeps a filter through pink noise, and the fan adds a faint blade flutter to a low rumble.

Does white noise help you sleep?

White noise is mainly used to mask sudden sounds like traffic or neighbors. The research is mixed: a 2021 systematic review in Sleep Medicine Reviews rated the quality of evidence that continuous noise improves sleep as "very low" and called for more research, noting that noise may also affect sleep and hearing negatively.

So treat white noise as a tool to try rather than a treatment. Start at a low volume, barely above audible, and use the sleep timer so it turns off after you fall asleep. If trouble sleeping lasts for weeks, look at your sleep habits and talk to a doctor.

Using white noise for babies

A 2014 study in Pediatrics, the journal of the American Academy of Pediatrics, measured 14 infant sleep machines at maximum volume. At 30 cm (crib-rail distance) all exceeded 50 dB(A), the recommended limit for hospital nurseries, and three exceeded 85 dB(A). Even at 200 cm all but one exceeded 50 dB(A). The authors warned that long, loud use could harm infant hearing and auditory development, and recommended:

• Placing the device as far from the baby as possible, never in the crib or on the crib rail
• Using the lowest volume possible
• Playing it for a short time, only until the baby is asleep. The Baby preset starts at a low volume with a 30-minute timer.

Volume and hearing safety

The World Health Organization says 80 dB is safe for up to 40 hours a week, with safe time shrinking quickly as volume rises, and recommends keeping device volume at or below 60% of maximum. Sound you sleep with for hours should be much quieter. A speaker placed a little away from your bed is gentler than sleeping in earbuds. To check the actual level, use our decibel meter at your pillow.

Will it keep playing with the screen off?

Mobile browsers sometimes pause audio from pages when the screen turns off. Here is how this tool handles each platform:

• iPhone and iPad (Safari): tells iOS this is media playback so it can continue when locked. On recent iOS versions it usually does, but older versions and in-app browsers may stop it.
• Android (Chrome, Samsung Internet): plays through a media stream so it continues with the screen off and shows play/pause controls in the notification shade and on the lock screen. Aggressive battery savers may still stop it.
• Computer: keeps playing in background tabs and minimized windows.
• The most reliable option is Black screen mode: the screen never sleeps, so audio is never cut, and the black screen gives off almost no light. Keep the charger connected.