Is white noise good for sleep?

The evidence is mixed. A 2021 systematic review of 38 studies rated the quality of evidence for continuous white noise as a sleep aid very low, with results pointing both ways [2]. It can mask the noise of a loud bedroom, but keep it soft and on a timer; pink noise or rain is often better tolerated.

Is a story or music better for falling asleep?

It depends on what keeps you awake. If it is thoughts, a story occupies the mind with images, which shortens the time to fall asleep in people who ruminate [4]. If it is bodily tension, slow music has the strongest evidence for perceived sleep quality [1]. Nothing stops you alternating.

Can I sleep with earphones in?

Better to avoid it. Several hours of listening every night add up, and the WHO notes that sound exposure is a preventable cause of hearing loss [7]. A speaker at a distance, at low volume, is more comfortable and safer. If you share a bed, a soft fabric headband with thin speakers, set very low, is a compromise.

Can I become dependent on a sound to fall asleep?

Not in the medical sense. What can happen is getting used to pairing a sound with falling asleep and feeling lost without it. To keep some flexibility, use a timer, vary the soundscapes and allow yourself a night in silence from time to time.

Sleep story, music, rain or silence: what helps you fall asleep?

Published Thursday, November 5 · By Alcyonia · 8 sources cited (our method)

Why the sound at bedtime changes how you fall asleep

When you fall asleep, the brain does not switch off all at once: it lowers its vigilance step by step, and whatever occupies your attention during that transition counts, whether it is a thought going around in circles or a noise from the street. A soundscape you have chosen gives your attention something stable to rest on, and partly masks the unpredictable noises that are the ones that wake you.

That is why the four main bedtime options do not work equally for everyone. A story occupies the mind with images, slow music settles the body through its tempo, rain or pink noise smooths out the environment, and silence leaves all the room to inner calm, when inner calm is there. Let us look at each one before choosing.

Option 1: a sleep story or a guided voice

A calm voice tells a slow story with no suspense, or guides a relaxation; you have nothing to do except follow. The benefit comes from what psychologists call imagery distraction. Focusing on a pleasant, detailed scene leaves less room for intrusive thoughts ⁴. A sleep story does that work for you: it supplies the images, and the mind only has to follow them.

It is also one of the most listened-to formats in sleep apps. In a survey of Calm users, most reported sleep difficulties, and every sleep-related feature, stories included, was associated with perceived improvement ⁵. These are self-reports, not a controlled trial, but they confirm a real need.

Who it suits: people whose sleep is delayed by rumination or evening anxiety. Less suitable: if you get hooked on the plot and stay awake to hear the ending; choose a story with no plot instead. Our slow stories are gathered at this page.

Option 2: slow music

This is the best-studied option. The 2022 Cochrane review gathered 13 randomized trials on listening to recorded music ¹. It remains a way to unwind, not a treatment, and no adverse effects were reported ¹.

Two caveats: objective sleep measures showed no clear improvement in the three studies that had them, and the authors call for more research on daytime consequences ¹. Music mainly helps the night feel better, which, for falling asleep, is already a lot.

Who it suits: people who are physically tense, those who need to tell the body the day is over, and those for whom a voice would be too present. Choose a slow tempo, no lyrics, no sudden changes in volume. Our night music is at this page.

Option 3: rain, nature sounds, pink or white noise

Three things are often confused here. Nature sounds (rain, waves, forest) are recordings that are irregular but predictable. White noise is a uniform hiss, like a fan. Pink noise is a deeper hiss, closer to a downpour or a waterfall.

On nature sounds, a synthesis published in PNAS reviewed 36 publications, 18 of them in a meta-analysis: listening to natural sounds lowers stress and annoyance and improves mood ⁶. It is not a sleep study, but the calming it describes is exactly what we are after at bedtime.

On pink noise, the most solid results come from sleep laboratories: short pulses of pink noise, played at the precise moment of the slow waves of deep sleep, strengthened those waves and improved next-day memory in adults aged 60 to 84 ³. But that required a device reading brain activity in real time; pink noise played continuously from a speaker does not reproduce that protocol, even if it usefully masks household noise.

On white noise, the evidence is mixed. The systematic review by Riedy and colleagues, published in Sleep Medicine Reviews in 2021, examined 38 studies: depending on the study, continuous noise improved sleep or disrupted it, and the quality of evidence for a benefit was rated very low, with a possible negative effect on sleep and hearing if the noise is loud ². Who it suits: people with a noisy bedroom, for whom a soft, steady background masks the jolts. Our rain and ambiences are at this page.

Option 4: silence

Silence is the reference option. If your room is quiet, if your thoughts settle on their own and if you fall asleep in under twenty or thirty minutes, nothing justifies adding a sound.

It has one advantage the other options lack: it creates no habit. Someone who always falls asleep to a story can feel lost when traveling or during a night-time waking. This is not dependence in the medical sense, but a learned association, which fades in a few nights.

Who it suits: people bothered by the slightest sound, and those for whom calm is already there. Harder: if silence amplifies your thoughts, or if your surroundings are noisy. A soft background sound then often makes inner silence easier to reach.

How to choose: start from what keeps you awake

Rather than looking for the "best" soundscape, notice over two or three evenings what delays your sleep, then try the option that answers it. Change one thing at a time and keep it for at least a week: the body learns by repetition.

If you ruminate, replay the day or plan tomorrow → try a sleep story, slow and plotless ⁴.
If you are physically tense, jaw clenched, shoulders up → try slow music, no lyrics, for 30 to 45 minutes ¹.
If your bedroom is noisy or a sudden sound wakes you → try rain or pink noise, soft and steady, rather than loud white noise ².
If you like quiet and fall asleep quickly when nothing disturbs you → keep the silence, with earplugs if needed.
If you wake at 3 a.m. with your mind racing → restart a short story rather than switching on the screen.
If a voice irritates you or keeps you hanging → switch to music or nature sounds, which ask nothing of you ⁶.

The right settings, whichever option you choose

Volume first. A bedtime soundscape should be sensed more than heard: if you have to listen slightly to catch it, that is the right level. The World Health Organization notes that exposure to loud sounds is one of the most common preventable causes of hearing loss in adults, and that more than a billion young adults are at risk through their listening habits ⁷. Several hours every night, even at moderate volume, add up: prefer a speaker at a distance to earbuds in your ears.

Sleep timer second. Set a timer of 30 to 60 minutes: most people fall asleep before the end, and a sound that runs all night can fragment sleep, continuous noise in particular ². If you wake up, you can always restart it.

Screen off last. Start the session, turn the phone over or move it away, and do not go back to it: the light and the notifications are wake-up signals that no soundscape makes up for. Our sessions are designed to be started and forgotten: no ads, no interruptions, no jolts.