White, pink and brown noise generator
Three colours of noise you can play alone or blend. Use pink noise for speaker level matching, or any mix for masking distractions, with a sleep timer that fades out.
Volume first. Turn your device volume down before pressing play, then raise it slowly. Tones start quiet on purpose. Keep headphones off your ears until you know how loud it is.
White, pink or brown: what the colour means
Noise colours describe how energy is spread across the frequency range. The chart shows energy per octave band, which is closest to how you hear it.
Pink noise has equal energy per octave, so the bars are level. Because our hearing is organised roughly by octaves, pink noise sounds balanced, like steady rain. Audio engineers use it to set speaker levels and room EQ.
Calibrating speakers with pink noise
- Set the mixer to Only pink at −30 dBFS.
- Hold a sound level meter (or a phone SPL app, for rough matching) at your listening position, pointed at the ceiling.
- Play each speaker in turn using the balance on the left/right test with pink noise selected, and adjust each channel's level until they read the same.
- Many home theatre setups aim for 75 dB SPL per channel with their own test noise; the exact target matters less than making the channels match.
Noise for sleep and concentration
Steady noise masks sudden sounds, like traffic or a neighbour's door, that would otherwise grab your attention. Many people find brown or pink noise more pleasant than white because it has less hiss. Keep the level low; the WHO recommends limiting long exposure, and noise meant for sleep should be comfortably quiet.
Questions people ask
What is the difference between white, pink and brown noise?
White noise has equal energy at every frequency and sounds bright and hissy. Pink noise has equal energy per octave and sounds balanced, like rain. Brown noise is weighted heavily to the bass and sounds like a deep rumble or distant waterfall.
Which noise is used for speaker calibration?
Pink noise. Because it carries equal energy per octave, it lets you compare speaker levels fairly with an SPL meter, and it is the standard signal for room EQ and AV receiver level setup.
Can I use it to sleep or focus?
Yes. Set a comfortable low level and a timer; the sound fades out gently at the end. Keep it quiet: the American Academy of Pediatrics advises keeping infant sound machines well away from the cot and at a low volume.
Does the noise loop?
It plays a four-second buffer of freshly generated random noise on a loop. The repeat is practically impossible to hear because noise has no recognisable pattern.
Keep testing
- Spectrum analyzerReal-time FFT of your microphone with peak hold and note readout.
- Speaker testChannel, range and polarity checks for stereo speakers.
- Binaural beatsTwo slightly different tones, one per ear.