{"id":691,"date":"2025-07-23T09:07:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-23T09:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/soundmask.com.au\/blog\/?p=691"},"modified":"2025-07-15T00:37:16","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T00:37:16","slug":"the-colours-of-noise","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/soundmask.com.au\/blog\/the-colours-of-noise\/","title":{"rendered":"The colours of noise"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

White, pink, brown, blue\u2026 These are just some of the rainbow of colours that are used to describe particular shades of noise. But why colours? And what is the difference between a pink noise and a white noise? Does it even matter?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These are all questions that clients have asked us, especially when coming to us with a request for “white noise”. As you can read in a previous blog post<\/a>, that’s not what we sell here at Soundmask.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why colours?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The colours of noise are named based on their spectral properties, similar to the way light waves are split into colours. But light waves and sound waves are not exactly analogous. For example, while light waves are electromagnetic waves, sound waves are mechanical waves. Further, while light waves are visible to the eye, sound waves are invisible to the human eye. That’s why drawing a graph of the colours of noise will not look the same as a graph of the colours of light.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How many colours of noise are there?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

It feels like every year or so, we hear of another colour of noise coined by (I suspect) someone in a government lab somewhere. Or maybe the marketing department adjacent to said lab. This is because the American National Standard T1.523-2001, Telecom Glossary 2000.<\/a>\u00a0defines white, pink, blue, and black noise. How, you might ask? Let’s explore them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are the definitions from the glossary along with sound samples for each:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White noise<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

White noise definition: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“Noise having a frequency spectrum that is continuous and uniform over a specified frequency band.\u00a0Note:<\/em>\u00a0White noise has equal power per hertz over the specified frequency band.\u00a0Synonym<\/em>\u00a0additive white gaussian noise.<\/strong>“<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Here’s a sample: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pink noise<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Pink noise definition: “In acoustics, noise in which there is equal power per octave.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s a sample:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Blue noise<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Blue noise definition: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“In a spectrum of frequencies, a region in which the spectral density,\u00a0i.e.,<\/em>\u00a0power per hertz, is proportional to the frequency.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Here’s a sample:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Black noise<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Black noise definition: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

“Noise that has a frequency spectrum of predominately zero power level over all frequencies except for a few narrow bands or spikes.\u00a0Note:<\/em>\u00a0An example of black noise in a facsimile transmission system is the spectrum that might be obtained when scanning a black area in which there are a few random white spots. Thus, in the time domain, a few random pulses occur while scanning.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Essentially it sounds like “nothing”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But that’s not all!<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I have heard of brown noise (very low frequency), red noise (between pink and brown noise), violet noise (not to be confused with violent noise), and a combination of all of the above. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Different colours of noise have different purposes. For example, laboratories often use white noise as a neutral background sound for testing. Pink noise is often used as a sleep aid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So there you have it. A crash course in the colours of noise. What about Soundmask’s sound spectrum? We haven’t named the colour, but you can listen to a sample overlaid in part of our promo video here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sound samples courtesy of audiocheck.net<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

White, pink, brown, blue\u2026 These are just some of the rainbow of colours that are used to describe particular shades of noise. But why colours? And what is the difference between a pink noise and a white noise? Does it even matter? 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