White noise: The booming business of quiet

Imagine white noise as a conversation. Presented with two people talking simultaneously, your brain can typically pick out each individual voice and understand it. Given three people talking simultaneously, your brain is still up to the task. Given a room of 1,000 people chatting at a similar volume, however, and you’re asking your brain for a miracle to pick out and listen to just one voice. For most of us, though, that many-voiced din isn’t a disorienting cacophony—it all melds into unremarkable background sound. That’s white noise. The business of white noise has been commodified and packaged as a path to “silence” in a noisy world. Therapists and attorneys place white noise machines outside their office doors, like tiny privacy sentries. Parents clip white noise machines masquerading as cuddly lambs and owls to car seats and cribs to soothe babies to sleep. [Apps]( offer personalizable white noise soundtracks. As the world gets louder and noise pollution scales to what some claim as a [public health crisis]( white noise technology is facing a demand like never before, and business is quietly booming. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( [Quartz Obsession] White noise November 13, 2019 Lend an ear --------------------------------------------------------------- Imagine white noise as a conversation. Presented with two people talking simultaneously, your brain can typically pick out each individual voice and understand it. Given three people talking simultaneously, your brain is still up to the task. Given a room of 1,000 people chatting at a similar volume, however, and you’re asking your brain for a miracle to pick out and listen to just one voice. For most of us, though, that many-voiced din isn’t a disorienting cacophony—it all melds into unremarkable background sound. That’s white noise. The business of white noise has been commodified and packaged as a path to “silence” in a noisy world. Therapists and attorneys place white noise machines outside their office doors, like tiny privacy sentries. Parents clip white noise machines masquerading as cuddly lambs and owls to car seats and cribs to soothe babies to sleep. [Apps]( offer personalizable white noise soundtracks. As the world gets louder and noise pollution scales to what some claim as a [public health crisis]( white noise technology is facing a demand like never before, and business is quietly booming. 🐦 [Tweet this!]( 🌐 [View this email on the web]( by the digits [$45:]( Cost of the best-rated white noise machine, according to New York Magazine [3,263:]( Linear miles of [sound barriers]( built along US highways between 1963 and 2017 [45:]( Record number of minutes a human has been submerged in true silence before tapping out due to hallucinations and mental strain [37 million:]( Views on the ten-hour “Celestial White Noise” video on YouTube [384,118:]( Noise complaints made by New Yorkers to the city’s customer service hotline in 2015 [70 decibels:]( The “optimum” noise level for creative thinking, according to a study from the University of British Columbia, “about the level of a crowded cafe.” [80–90 decibels:]( Measurements architecture and design critic Kate Wagner found in her exploration of “How Restaurants Got So Loud.” REUTERS/Steve Marcus The way we 👂 now A white noise machine in every bedroom --------------------------------------------------------------- [White noise]( is created when sounds that are of similar intensity or volume, across a wide range of different frequencies, are combined to create an ambient sound. Also described as having “flat spectral density,” this type of sound is exceptionally good at masking other noise—like the din of voices or the whirring of a fan. Active Noise Control (ANC) is the evolution of white noise—rather than a broad spectrum of frequencies, ANC targets the noise coming in and cancels it with [phase-shifted “anti-sound.”]( Companies like Apple have been steadily adding features to address the market for noise protection and cancellation technology, releasing [noise-canceling earbuds]( and [volume tracking software](. Bose sells noise-canceling devices [specifically designed for military operatives]( meant for “high-noise vehicle environments” with promises of “improved speech intelligibility.” Now, it’s expanding that technology to [civilian vehicles]( as more car owners choose to go electric and face the white noise of the road: “Sitting inside a whisper-quiet electric car, a driver is exposed to more road noise than they would typically hear in a noisy internal combustion engine car.” Parents are also prime customers. White noise machines have become as ubiquitous as nightlights on baby supply lists, as [research indicates]( and [blogs laud]( the powers of a gently whirring device to lull even the most finicky infants to sleep—although researchers suggest caution about using them [too close to a child or for too long](. quotable “Noise pollution is a public health hazard.” —[Arline Bronzaft, psychologist & chairman of the noise committee of GrowNYC]( Million-dollar question Are white noise machines harmful? --------------------------------------------------------------- [Noise pollution is a growing concern]( of doctors, environmentalists, homeowners, and just about anyone who values peace and quiet. Researchers are finding that just like loud, abrupt noises, the constant din can have [long term effects]( on health. “Long-term exposure to non-traumatic noise… seems to make people more likely to develop some of the same neural changes seen in tinnitus sufferers, even in the absence of hearing loss,” Gizmodo reports. Tinnitus is a chronic condition associated with the misfiring of neurons damaged by high excessive noise-exposure that leads to hearing phantom sounds. People affected by extreme noise are also more likely to develop [dementia]( anxiety, and have their learning ability impaired, suggesting sound exposure may have even [wider neural effects](. White noise is being pitched as one of the solutions to the problem. Research backed up by [studies done on mice]( suggests low-level noise can reduce symptoms of tinnitus, and has become a [recommended treatment]( method. Most uses of white noise aren’t proven to have real health effects, however. In fact, we might be using white noise too much. According to a 2012 [National Sleep Foundation]( survey, 5% of adults use some kind “sound conditioner” as they doze. [Michael Grandner]( director of the Sleep and Health Research Program at the University of Arizona, says white noise might help if you are combatting outside sound, but using it supplementarily can transform it into an unnecessary crutch: “Biologically, you don’t need this [sound] to sleep, and if you use it every night, you can get so used to it that you can’t sleep without it.” AP Photo/Michael Rubinkam pop quiz Which is not one of the top four most agreeable sounds to the human ear? Bubbling waterSmall waterfallCat purringRunning water Correct. Correct! A 2008 research project that played subjects 75 different recordings found the four most agreeable sounds to the human ear to be water. The fifth? A baby’s laugh. Incorrect. Nope! If your inbox doesn’t support this quiz, find the solution at bottom of email. brief history [1906:]( Julia Barnett Rice founds the Society for the Suppression of Unnecessary Noise in New York City. [1936:]( The first [patent]( for noise control technology was granted to inventor Paul Lueg. [1943:]( The earliest reference to “white noise,” [according to the Oxford English Dictionary]( comes from the Journal of Aeronautical Science: “[In the airplane] all frequencies added together at once are heard, producing a noise which is to sound what white light is to light.‥ That white noise is annoying needs little argument.” [1950s:]( Five patents are granted to Lawrence J. Fogel for systems to cancel the noise in helicopter and airplane cockpits. [1963:]( The SleepMate, the “original white noise machine,” is formally submitted for a patent and marketed as a tool to “cover up all those nerve-wracking noises with a breezy continuing swoosh.” [1972:]( The Noise Control Act is passed into US federal law, “establishing a national policy to promote an environment for all Americans free from noise that jeopardizes their health and welfare.” [1985:]( Don DeLillo publishes his breakthrough novel White Noise. [1989:]( The Bose Aviation Headset is the first commercially available noise reduction headset in the world. [1992:]( The Nissan Bluebird becomes the first car in the world to be sold with an active noise canceling system. Have a friend who would enjoy our Obsession with White noise? [ [Forward link to a friend](mailto:?subject=Thought you'd enjoy.&body=Read this Quartz Obsession email – to the email – fun fact! Pigeons may navigate using [acoustic maps]( finding their way home with sound—low-frequency background noise far below the human ability to hear. Giphy department of jargon Colors of the sonic rainbow --------------------------------------------------------------- Pink noise, [“the darling of the noise spectrum,]( contains all the frequencies in the audible spectrum just as white noise does, but they decline in power at three decibels per octave, leaving a bassier sound [“likened to rainstorms or sometimes rumbling traffic”]( that might be better for sleep. Brown noise, named after its resemblance to Brownian motion, is deeper still, [“comparable to hard ocean surf.”]( Blue noise has the opposite pattern of pink noise; unlike the others, you probably don’t want to sleep to its hiss, but it might be helpful [if you have tinnitus](. watch this! The sounds of silence --------------------------------------------------------------- American experimental composer John Cage turned classical music on its ear by taking away the music. 4’33” is a [three-movement composition]( in which not a single string is plucked or key pressed; it’s often misinterpreted as “silence,” but the piece is full of ambient sounds—the creak of wood, the wind in the trees, the breathing of the musicians. [NPR]( wrote, “unlike compositions designed to make the outside world fall away, here was a music that, when it engaged you, made the present world open up like a lotus blossoming in stop-motion photography.” Pianist David Tudor called it “one of the most intense listening experiences you can have.” take me down this 🐰 hole! Soundscapes can be reliable metrics of the health of our landscapes. As humans raise the decibel of our world with engines and industry, it’s not only taxing not just us but the entire natural world. Animals are being forced to change the way they communicate, migrate, hunt, and choose their homes. Bryan Pijanowski, an ecologist at Purdue University, told the [New York Times]( “There may be some very unique soundscapes around the world that—just through normal human activities—would be lost forever.” Some [scientists]( and [enthusiasts]( are making it their mission to preserve these natural soundscapes before it’s too late, creating a historical record of gurgling brooks, [the creak of ice]( and twittering birds. Giphy poll What is your preferred level of background noise? [Click here to vote]( Dead silenceA babbling brookCoffee shop chatterTimes Square 💬 let's talk! In yesterday’s poll about [bananas]( 73% of you said you like them, 20% of you said “they’re not my favorite, but they’re convenient,” and 7% of you said, “ugh, toddlers can keep them.” 📧 Ken writes: “In many areas where bananas are grown, the leaf is also important: in southern India it’s the traditional dinner plate for thali meals; throughout Central America it’s used as a wrap in cooking, especially tamales; throughout southeast Asia and Indonesia, its many uses include as thatch in traditional roofing.” 🤔 [What did you think of today’s email?](mailto:obsession%2Bfeedback@qz.com?cc=&subject=Thoughts%20about%20white%20noise&body=) 💡 [What should we obsess over next?](mailto:obsession%2Bideas@qz.com?cc=&subject=Obsess%20over%20this%20next.&body=) [🎲 Show me a random Obsession]( Today’s email was written by [Hailey Morey]( edited by [Annaliese Griffin]( and produced by [Tori Smith](. The correct answer to the quiz is Cat purring. Enjoying the Quartz Obsession? 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