White noises have saved many sleepless nights for insomniacs.

Particularly effective at preventing nighttime awakenings due to sudden noise, they now have a prominent place in the arsenal of atmospheres used for sleeping.

HoomBand is not just immersive stories that you listen to in order to fall asleep.

Because there are as many sleeper profiles as sleepers, the Livlab app (available on iPhone and Android) aims to be as complete as possible, to provide a customizable solution, depending on each person's mood or sensitivity.

In this article, we try to understand why white noises are so effective for falling asleep AND stay asleep.

Summary:

• 1- What exactly is white noise?
• 2- Their effectiveness on the quality of your sleep
• 3- Improve sleep, but not only that...

1- What exactly is white noise?

If we set aside the scientific definition of white noise, we can summarize it as follows: it is a noise that reduces the difference between the background noise of an environment and an irregular sound that disturbs that environment.[1]

So it is a monotonous, constant sound with a strong "covering" power over other sounds.

It consists of all the frequencies that the human ear can hear (from 20 Hertz to 20,000 Hertz).

Why do we say it is "white"? (funny idea to give colors to noises!)

No official explanation but according to us, since the color white is a mix of all color waves, we can then imagine that its sound is also a cheerful din that can cover all others!

A "pure" white noise would sound like a scrambled TV or poorly tuned radio. So it is not very pleasant to hear, because this sound contains a lot of high-frequency energy.

Contrary to what many think, the sound of a river, birds, or wind in a forest does not fall into the category of white noise: they are not monotonous.

Falling into common language, the term "white noise" is now wrongly used for natural sounds (waves, forest, birds, etc.) or electronic device noises (fan, air conditioner, TV, etc.).

Depending on the person, one can be more or less sensitive to white noises.

Not only do they allow you to fall asleep faster by covering surrounding noises, but they also reduce your sensitivity to noises that wake you up.

Those who can be awakened by a slamming door in the morning or dogs barking in the middle of the night will find here an ingenious way to bypass these problems.

And even if you wake up, the reassuring sound of white noise allows you to reduce the time it takes to fall back asleep.

2- Their effectiveness on the quality of your sleep

White noise therefore has the specificity of creating the ideal conditions for you to fall asleep and to stay asleep.

In an environment as noisy as a hospital, researchers wanted to demonstrate the effects of white noises on the sleep quality of a group of hospitalized patients. The answer is affirmative! According to them, white noises are effective because they can cover surrounding noises, help people fall asleep faster, and stay asleep even in a noisy environment. [2]

This same study shows that white noises were able to increase sleep duration by about 2 hours in the people participating in the experiment.

That's no small thing!

Psychiatrist David Neubauer, associate professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, is unequivocal:

"White noises form a kind of "sound cocoon," which can be very relaxing. When an environment is completely quiet, people suffering from insomnia focus even more on small noisy details, which prevents them from falling asleep easily."

Another study conducted on 20 children between 2 and 7 years old shows that 80% of them fall asleep in less than 5 minutes after listening to white noises: these sounds are therefore effective for the whole family. [3]

3- Improve sleep, but not only that...

Researchers have discovered that white noises not only help to fall asleep faster, but they also increase our capacity for memorization and learning. [4]

There are red, purple, gray, and pink noises, depending on their spectral density. Some studies are currently focusing on pink noises, with particularly promising results on memory and falling asleep. [5]

With your well-adjusted HoomBand and your white noise on, nothing can disturb you!

Here is an example of white noise below, you can find others on the Livlab app (available on iPhone and Android):

New white noises are regularly added. Every night, its own noise!

With your headband well adjusted and your white noise playing, there is little chance of disturbing your appointment with Morpheus.

Sources

[1] The influence of white noise on sleep in subjects exposed to ICU noise, Michael L.Stanchina, Muhanned Abu-Hijleh et al, Sleep Medicine, 2005

[2] Effect of White Noise on Sleep in Patients Admitted to a Coronary Care, Pouya Farokhnezhad Afshar et al, J Caring Sci. 2016 Jun

[3] White noise and sleep induction, JA Spencer et al, Arch Dis Child, 1990

[4] Vanessa H Rausch et al, Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, 2014, Ran D Anbar and Molly P Slothower, BMC Pediatre 2006

[5] Acoustic Enhancement of Sleep Slow Oscillations and Concomitant Memory Improvement in Older Adults, Papalambros NA et al, Front Hum Neurosci. 2017 Mar