How masking works
Background noise doesn't cancel other sounds. It masks them. What makes a noise disturbing is how much it stands out from the quiet around it. A steady sound fills in that quiet, so a neighbour's voice or a passing car becomes a much smaller change and is far easier to ignore, or sleep through.
This works best on intermittent sounds (voices, doors, cars, snoring). It's less effective against very loud or very deep sounds, like heavy bass through a wall, but it still takes the edge off.
Match the noise to the problem
- Traffic, buses, low hums and thuds from upstairs: brown noise. It has the most low-frequency energy, which is where these sounds live.
- A snoring partner: pink or brown noise. Snoring is mostly low to mid pitched, and these cover it without being harsh at night.
- Voices, TV through the wall, people in the next room: white or pink noise, which cover the frequencies speech sits in.
- A mix of everything: grey noise is a good all-rounder that's comfortable for long periods.
Suggested settings
Open any noise page and use the Sound Controls panel. These are good starting points for blocking noise:
Practical tips
- Put the speaker between you and the noise. For a noisy street, place it near the window. For neighbours, place it near the shared wall. The masking sound then reaches you from the same direction as the noise.
- Combine it with earplugs. Earplugs cut the volume of the noise; background noise covers what gets through. Together they work better than either alone.
- Don't keep turning it up. It's tempting to drown out a loud neighbour, but loud noise all night isn't good for your hearing. Aim to blur the sound, not overpower it.
- Seal the gaps. Heavy curtains, a draught excluder under the door and rugs on hard floors all reduce noise before masking even starts.
- For snoring, start the noise before you fall asleep. It's much easier to sleep through snoring than to fall asleep to it.
Common questions
Can white noise block out loud bass from neighbours?
Only partly. Deep bass carries through walls and is hard to mask. Brown noise with the Bass slider turned up helps most, and earplugs or ear defenders add to it.
Is it better to use headphones?
For daytime work, closed-back or noise-cancelling headphones with quiet noise are very effective. At night, a speaker or soft sleep headphones are more comfortable.
What if the noise is constant and unreasonable?
Masking helps you cope, but if a neighbour's noise is persistent, it's worth talking to them, your landlord, or your local council, which can often investigate noise nuisance.