51–60 of 106 posts
Long term white noise exposure might be associated with hearing loss, especially age-related. The theory was that "nerves that fire together, wire together", too much white noise compared to clear sounds will cause the neural mapping for sounds to gradually become fuzzier, making distinctions between sounds will become harder.
I've always been confused by people that enjoy white noise. It's awful. Here is a sample from the wikipedia page on white noise : https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AWhite... Does anyone genuinely enjoy listening to that? On the other hand, even though I don't, I could imagine why someone might like Brown noise (sounds almost like the ocean) : https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3A…
Possibly the same reason why people like to listen to music while working? The essential feature common to white noise and music you're familiar with could be the predictability. I know for me a good song (uptempo, not too distracting) can help me block out the outside world and make me feel very productive.
Music with words distracts me as I like to 'understand' songs and just enjoy the message. I tried electronic music and as a European it really makes me want to dance, hah. By far the best music for me is classical music. It literally makes tedious things like writing emails, documenting and coding much more enjoyable.
Space music (a sub genre) is my favourite.
Andrew Huberman saying in a podcast that it's not the case for verbal recall: https://youtu.be/Ze2pc6NwsHQ?t=3350 Interesting podcast, btw. got it from HN few days ago.
I got it from HN as well and it is excellent! Kudos for both Andrew and whoever commented a link to it :)
I've always been confused by people that enjoy white noise. It's awful. Here is a sample from the wikipedia page on white noise : https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AWhite... Does anyone genuinely enjoy listening to that? On the other hand, even though I don't, I could imagine why someone might like Brown noise (sounds almost like the ocean) : https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3A…
I've always been confused by people that enjoy white noise. It's awful. Here is a sample from the wikipedia page on white noise : https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AWhite... Does anyone genuinely enjoy listening to that? On the other hand, even though I don't, I could imagine why someone might like Brown noise (sounds almost like the ocean) : https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3A…
But yes, I do prefer brown noise over white noise by a wide margin.
play -n synth brownnoise gain -25
I use a non-looping white/brown noise machine to help me sleep at night and it works wonders in the city. One thing I've wondered is the health effects of listening to that noise at ~ 40db all night over all these years. OSHA says that anything under ~ 80db is safe for 8h, but I do wonder if there are any longer term impacts to hearing or audio processing for softer sounds played over a lifetime. I could easily see t…
From Norman Doidge's book "The Brain That Changes Itself", I learned that: Long term white noise exposure might be associated with hearing loss, especially age-related. The theory was that "nerves that fire together, wire together", too much white noise compared to clear sounds will cause the neural mapping for sounds to gradually become fuzzier, making distinctions between sounds will become harder.
Study: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaotolaryngology/article-...
I've always been confused by people that enjoy white noise. It's awful. Here is a sample from the wikipedia page on white noise : https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3AWhite... Does anyone genuinely enjoy listening to that? On the other hand, even though I don't, I could imagine why someone might like Brown noise (sounds almost like the ocean) : https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File%3A…
I'd take white noise over distracting background noises (i.e., roommates, coffee shops) in a heartbeat. The point isn't to enjoy the sound per se, it's to block distractions. But yes, I do prefer brown noise over white noise by a wide margin.