Website: https://white-noise-generator.org
Relax Melodies: Sleep Sounds
Atmosphere: Relaxing Sounds
White Noise Deep Sleep Sounds
Rain Rain Sleep Sounds
Summary
White noise can help people fall or stay asleep. White noise is a constant soothing sound that blocks out other unwanted sounds that may prevent or disturb a person’s sleep. Examples of white noise include the sounds of steady rain, waves, and a circulating fan.
Using white noise apps is a popular and inexpensive way to produce ambient sounds to help people with their sleep.
There are now a wide selection of white noise apps available. This article looks at six of the best to help a person sleep.
How do white noise apps work?
Popular white noise include sounds from falling rain, the forest, and household appliances.
White noise is a type of sound masking that uses a fixed frequency and tone equally distributed over the whole hearing range. White noise apps work by covering up annoying noises with a constant peaceful sound.
Around the world, insomnia symptoms affect around 35% of the population. Research suggests that using filtered white noise may improve a person’s sleep quality by raising the hearing threshold. This means that a person is less likely to hear background sounds over the sound of the white noise.
Background sounds that may disturb a person’s sleep include:
slamming doors
snoring or coughing
animal noises
traffic sounds and sirens
creaking floorboards
hotel elevator doors or ice machines
conversations or laughter
dripping water
Using white noise apps can shorten the time it takes a person to fall asleep, as well as help them stay asleep.
Also, many of these apps have various color settings, from pink to blue to brown. Each color refers to a specific set of frequenciesTrusted Source.
The sections below list some of the best white noise apps to help people sleep.
Resources for healthy sleep
To discover more evidence-based information and resources on the science of healthy sleep, visit our dedicated hub.
White Noise Generator
The White Noise Generator web offers both natural white noise and calibrated noises. Its unique calibration process measures and adapts a sound to a person’s hearing levels. This allows for greater sound masking efficiency at quieter levels.
People can also shape their sounds to different noise colors, including white, pink, and gray.
White Noise Generator has over 200 background noises and interactive soundscapes available. Some of the sounds that will help with sleep include:
rain on a tent
natural waterfall
distant thunder
fireplace
fan noise
sleeping dragon
White Noise Generator has a free version that includes white noise, rain noise, binaural beats, spring walk, temple bells, and warp speed. The app also includes a sleep timer to turn off the sound and an alarm for gradual wake-up.
It also offers in-app purchases, including an All You Can Hear Bundle that guarantees unlimited access to all generators, including futures ones.
Availability:
iPhone/iPad with family sharing
Android
Alexa devices
Website
Video tutorials
White Noise
White Noise Generator generates sounds over a wide range of frequencies. It offers three versions that support continuous looped audio playback with no network connection required.
The extensive sound library includes:
a variety of rain and water sounds
home appliance sounds, such as an air conditioner, dishwasher, hairdryer, clothes dryer, fan, and vacuum cleaner
outside sounds, including crickets, frogs, the Amazon rainforest, a campfire, a thunderstorm, and wind
several color sound options, including white, violet, blue, pink, and brown noise
travel sounds, including airplanes, cars, trains, and city streets
other sounds, including a purring cat, chimes, a grandfather clock, a heartbeat, and a Tibetan singing bowl
Additional free sound downloads are also available at the White Noise Market.
Lite
The Lite version includes:
background audio support, so people can use other apps while listening
a MixPad editor, for creating new soundscapes
a full-screen digital clock with multiple colors and brightness controls
five slowly fading alarms and a timer system
the ability to save sounds to a “favorites” category, for quick access
the ability to AirPlay sounds to Bluetooth devices
ads
Availability:
iPhone/iPad and Apple TV
Android
Amazon (Android version)
Full
The full version includes all the White Noise Lite features with these additional ones:
40 full stereo playback sounds
20 different alarms
buffer size tweaking for optimal playback
adjustable sound volume, balance, and pitch
digital LED clock
custom alarm snooze times
no ads
Availability:
iPhone/iPad, including Apple Watch and Apple TV
Android, including Android TV and Widget
Amazon (Android version)
Pro
The Pro version includes all the features of the full app with these additional ones:
50 high definition sleep sounds
professional tools for generating custom looped binaural beats, color noises, and tones
20 slowly fading alarm sounds
Availability:
iPhone/iPad, including Apple Watch and Apple TV
Android, including Android TV and Widget
Amazon (Android version)
Relax Melodies: Sleep Sounds
Relax Melodies: Sleep Sounds has over 100 soothing sounds, music, beats, and tones designed to help people sleep. People can mix these elements together to create personalized soundscapes.
The sound library includes:
nature sounds, including wind, rustling leaves, birds, and a crackling fire
white noise, including hairdryer, airplane, dryer, vacuum, and fan sounds
water sounds, including a rainstorm, the ocean, slow waves, and lapping water
meditation music, including voices, instruments, and ambient melodies
Additional features include a bedtime reminder, a timer, and a section to house people’s favorite mixes. The app also offers meditations, sleep moves, breathing techniques, binaural beats, and bedtime stories.
Availability:
iPhone/iPad, including Apple Watch and Apple TV
Android
Amazon (Android version)
Atmosphere: Relaxing Sounds
This app offers more than 100 high quality nature and artificial sounds. It divides the sounds into different environments, including:
beach
forest
city
home
underwater
park
countryside
East Asia
instrumental
People can also mix sounds between any environment and import their own ones to create their favorite combinations. The volume of each sound is also individually adjustable.
Atmosphere works offline and includes a sleep timer. It also includes a section of binaural beats and isochronic tones.
Availability:
iPhone/iPad with family sharing
Android
Amazon (Android version)
White Noise Generator Deep Sleep Sounds
White Noise Generator Sleep Sounds has over 25 customizable white noise and deep sleep sounds. This app also has sounds geared toward helping babies sleep.
Examples of the sounds available include:
home appliances
rain sounds
womb sounds
crickets and frogs
distant thunder
ocean waves
winter wind
roaring fire
brown noise
pink noise
There is also a premium version that includes 23 animal and nature sounds. The first eight sounds are binaural beats recordings, which create an enhanced 3D stereo sound.
The free version will play sounds for 8 hours, and the last sound the person played will start when they relaunch the app. Ads and in-app purchases feature in the free version.
Availability:
iPhone/iPad, including Apple TV
Android
Rain Rain Sleep Sounds
This app has over 40 free high definition sounds that people can mix to create their ideal white noise sound.
Some of the sound choices include:
various types of rainfall
a crackling fireplace
a purring cat
a snoring Shih Tzu
dishwasher, clothes washer, and dryer sounds
travel sounds, including cars, trains, and airplanes
The free edition includes:
a fade-out sleep timer that learns a person’s preferences and automatically starts the next time they use the app
a bedtime reminder
an oscillator that allows a person to customize sound volume and speed
a mixer that allows a person to combine multiple sounds with individualized volumes
a soften option, to adjust the tone of each sound
no audio or video ads
full support for background audio, AirPlay, and Bluetooth devices
a “favorites” save option
This app works without a network connection. People can also preview any premium sound without subscribing.
Rain Rain Premium has more than 60 additional sounds and no ads. It has a 1-week free trial once a person subscribes.
Availability:
iPhone/iPad, with Apple TV and family sharing
Android
Amazon
Summary
Indoor and outdoor background noises are a common cause of sleep problems.
White noise help people sleep by using continuous pleasant sounds to mask disruptive ones.
People who have trouble with sleep might want to try a white noise app to help them fall asleep and stay asleep.