Speaker 1: Welcome to brain Stuff production of I Heart Radio. Hey,
Speaker 1: brain Stuff, I'm Lauren Vogelbaum, and this is another classic
Speaker 1: episode from our previous host, Christian Sagar. White noise generators
Speaker 1: are a boon to some of us who work in
Speaker 1: open office environments and need to concentrate, and to some
Speaker 1: of us who are just trying to get a good
Speaker 1: night's sleep. In today's episode, we explain why crossover into
Speaker 1: brain Stuff. Now, children, all are welcome. I'm Christian Sager.
Speaker 1: But before we go into the light together, there seems
Speaker 1: to be some confusion among you about what white noises
Speaker 1: no It isn't when you have that snowy static on
Speaker 1: your TV and ghosts fly out of the screen and
Speaker 1: your daughter says they're here. No. White noise is something
Speaker 1: we've all heard, some of us without even knowing it.
Speaker 1: So let's define what it is exactly, how it's used
Speaker 1: to mask other sounds, and what other colors exist on
Speaker 1: the spectrum of sound. The simplest definition is that white
Speaker 1: noise is the noise produced by combining all the different
Speaker 1: frequencies of sound together at once. Each of these frequencies
Speaker 1: are projected at an equal amount from low to high.
Speaker 1: Because white noise has an equal energy distribution. Sound technicians
Speaker 1: refer to its frequency spectrum as being completely flat. Some machines,
Speaker 1: like fans, for instance, can create an approximation of white
Speaker 1: noise by hitting all of these notes. That's why they're
Speaker 1: so good at creating background noises that masks other sounds.
Speaker 1: When there are sudden changes in noise, were often distracted
Speaker 1: by the jarring clash, especially if we're sleeping. White noises
Speaker 1: masking effect blocks out those changes, making it easier to
Speaker 1: sleep through the night. That's one reason some people leave
Speaker 1: a fan and air purifier, or even a television on
Speaker 1: in the middle of the night. This sound masking is
Speaker 1: also used to block noise is in places like offices, hotels,
Speaker 1: and libraries often broadcast over a p A system. If
Speaker 1: you're trying to concentrate in a disturbing environment and there
Speaker 1: aren't filters like these in place, you can even listen
Speaker 1: to white noise on your headphones to mediate the conflicting noise.
Speaker 1: How do you think we write these brain stuff episodes
Speaker 1: when we all live together in this tiny little studio
Speaker 1: prison and are never allowed to leave. There is peace
Speaker 1: and serenity in white noise. It can also be used
Speaker 1: as a kind of therapy for people with ringing ear,
Speaker 1: also known as tenitis. I've got that because of its
Speaker 1: equal high and low frequencies. For more info about how
Speaker 1: ringing ear works, check out our previous episode on the topic.
Speaker 1: And one other thing to note is that, because of
Speaker 1: an effect called stochastic resonance, some people actually find that
Speaker 1: white noise makes their tonitis worse. Now we call it
Speaker 1: white noise because it's analogous to how white light works,
Speaker 1: being made up of all the different frequencies of light.
Speaker 1: But white noise isn't the only color on the sound spectrum.
Speaker 1: Depending on the way signals are distributed over different frequencies
Speaker 1: that can be red, blue, violet, or gray. Pink noise,
Speaker 1: for example, is very similar to white noise, but it's
Speaker 1: higher frequencies have less intensity, making it louder and more
Speaker 1: powerful on the low end. This makes it useful for
Speaker 1: testing speakers and amplifiers. Like white noise, it's also used
Speaker 1: to mask background sounds, and pink noise even occurs naturally
Speaker 1: in heartbeat rhythms, meteorological data, and the radiation output of
Speaker 1: astronomical pods. Today's episode was written by Christian and produced
Speaker 1: by Tyler Playing. Brain Stuff is a production of I
Speaker 1: Heart Radios How stuff Works. For more on this and
Speaker 1: lots of other topics, visit our home planet, how stuff
Speaker 1: Works dot com. And for more podcasts my heart radio,
Speaker 1: visit the heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows.