White noise has been a favourite sleep hack for getting to the land of nod for years, but now there's another colour that's thought to be better.
The ADHD community on TikTok have spoken about the huge benefits of brown noise and how they've been finding it incredibly helpful in keeping their minds calm - it's become an absolute sensation on the platform.
See it in action here:
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Brown noise is like white noise but has a lower, deeper quality. So, think noises like the wind or heavy rain as well as the steady hum of an airline jet. According to Live Science, unlike white noise – thats spectral density (power per Hertz) is even throughout all frequencies – brown noise has a spectral density that's inversely proportional to its frequency squared. Essentially, this means that its power significantly decreases as its frequency increases.
Brown noise doesn't get its moniker from the colour, it's named after botanist Robert Brown, who discovered Brownian motion (random particle motion) in the 1800s. It's also known as Brownian noise because its change in sound signal from one moment to the next is random. Brown noise is also sometimes called red noise because it's analogous to red light, which has a low frequency.
Brown noise is described as being 'soothing' and 'steady', and has been highly praised by many especially those with ADHD.
Captioned 'Is this how most people’s brains feel all the time??!' one TikTok user's video shows her listening to the low-sounding roaring noise with the words "Brown noise is so much better than white noise. My brain is quiet for the first time ever."
Comments on the TikTok user's videos were in agreement that brown noise is better than white noise.
One user wrote: "This is why I love the sound of fans and air conditioning."
Another added: "Oh, oh I actually feel??? Comfortable?"
In another TikTok video, the user wrote: "If you're wondering, brown noise ... cured my ADHD.
"Why? I don't know.
"What I do know is that anytime I put it on I'm sucked into a vortex of hyper focus and the world just makes sense.
"Have I cracked the code?
"Maybe."