If you threw a group of people in a room and asked them if they were familiar with the whole concept of using white noise as a sleep aid, I’m pretty sure only a handful of them would raise their hands. And chances are, of those white noise literate, most of them probably only considered using it for their babies.
I have to admit, before I had kids, I had never heard of such a thing as using white noise to help you sleep. And when I first created Fade Away Sleep Sounds’ Baby Sleep Sounds, I was only really focused on making white noise for babies. It wasn’t until several years later when it dawned on me that white noise is also a really effective tool for adults too.
My first inkling of this was when I started noticing that our Baby Sleep Sound, Electric Fan Sounds were being purchased by people who didn’t have children. Come to find out, a lot of adults who had their oscillating fan going all summer, couldn't sleep without the sound it made during the winter, but rather than shivering their way back to May, they ditched the fan and added just the sound of it instead.
And white noise (from the non-scientific, non-clinical definition of white noise) isn’t just the long drone-y sound of appliances or static. Nature Sleep Sounds are very popular amongst adults as well. There’s not many things that can take away your stress like the sound of the rain dancing on leaves, or ocean waves crashing on the shore. It not only takes us on a temporary journey away from this realm of stress and responsibilities, but it also blocks out many of the sounds we don’t want to hear.
This masking effect of white noise is a huge benefit that were are exposed to more often than we might think. Think about the last time you were in the doctor’s office, there’s a pretty good chance that they had a little white noise sound machine going in the corner. At least they did a some of my doctor’s offices. When I entered the waiting room with my son for his latest check up, we were greeted by the sounds of rain falling along with the low rumblings of thunder in the background. While many may assume it was just there to ease the stress of those dealing with the dreaded white coat syndrome, it was also serving another purpose… giving us all a little privacy. Well, verbal privacy. Yes, that thunderstorm was washing away our worries, but is was also masking out a lot of the noise around us. When another family came in, we couldn’t hear their conversation, and they couldn’t hear ours.
You start to see a lot of this in various office spaces too. Life in a cubicle is anything but private, but thanks to a little white noise, the neighboring cubes don’t have to hear everything.
So while, yes, babies tend to get most of the credit of benefiting from white noise, it’s something us grown-ups can get a lot out of as well. If you’re looking for a little privacy, or help with sleep, or just need to relax a bit, turn to the wonderful world of white noise.