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