Mindful Monday: The Color of Noise

I had wonderful interview with Stacey Colino at the Washington Post talking about sounds! Her article Beyond White Noise: How different ‘color’ sounds can help or hurt was published on October 9, 2023.

In this article she interviews several experts and covers the details of white noise, as well as pink, brown/red, green, blue/purple.

As a quick insight: sounds don’t really have colors. White noise is so named because it is a combination of equal intensities of noise from all parts of the sound spectrum. With light, if you have an equal intensity across the whole spectrum you get white light. So the name sort of makes sense. Other sounds that are a blend of all sound spectra but with different intensities (like more low or high frequencies) will still sound a lot like “white noise” but with variations- sounding smoother, richer, more balance, or more screechy. Each of these gained color names as a variation on white noise.

The article gives some great thoughts and research about which of these sounds might work best as a sleep aid or otherwise help with issues such as tinnitus and concentration.

Keep in mind how sound might be able to improve your environment and your mindset!