Pink noise as a sleep aid: why you risk REM sleep with it
18/2/2026
Translation: machine translated
Background noise, known as pink noise, is a popular way to help you fall asleep and drown out disturbing noises. However, a new study now shows that the continuous sounds shorten the important REM sleep phase. The researchers recommend a simple alternative.
You toss and turn restlessly, the noise of traffic outside filters through the window, the minutes pass, but you just can't get to sleep. Many people have experienced this or something similar - even without a diagnosed sleep disorder. Background noise such as pink, white or brown noise is a supposedly tried and tested means of drowning out disturbing noises. However, these sleep aids may do more harm than good. Pink noise shortens the important dream sleep phase (REM sleep), according to a new sleep lab study.
Pink, white and brown noise: why noise can help you fall asleep
The idea behind pink, white or brown noise is simple and seems logical: if a steady noise is playing in the background, individual, disturbing noises are less noticeable. This should make it easier to fall asleep and stay asleep. In the past, people struggling to fall asleep used the monotonous noise of an air conditioner or fan, but today there is a huge selection of YouTube videos, Spotify suppliers and entire sound machines that play acoustic sleep aids. With considerable success: the top 5 YouTube hits for «white noise» alone have been viewed a total of over 700 million times.
So the sounds are popular. But there is a catch: whether and how well they work - or even do any harm - has hardly been investigated to date. The latest study now brings disillusionment to the sleep noise euphoria.
Pink noise or earplugs: What helps against traffic noise?
The study involved 25 healthy adults between the ages of 21 and 41 who, according to their own information, did not usually use sleep aids at night and had no sleep disorders. The participants spent seven nights in the sleep laboratory during which noise events, such as traffic or alarm noises, were played. Depending on the night, there were either no additional aids, pink noise or earplugs. As a control, a night was also carried out with only pink noise and no noise in the background.
The researchers measured sleep using a standardised sleep measurement (polysomnography), which can record the different sleep phases and wake-up reactions.
Pink noise shortens REM sleep
The study showed three clear effects: The recorded noise events made sleep measurably «shallower». The noise was particularly detrimental to deep sleep. Compared to a quiet control night, the participants spent 23 minutes less in deep sleep. Pink noise alone did not act as protection, but was associated with less REM sleep. REM is the sleep phase in which many people dream particularly vividly. On the pink noise night (without disturbing noise), the participants missed an average of around 19 minutes of this important sleep phase. The combination of noise plus pink noise was the least favourable, as both deep sleep and REM sleep were reduced. In addition, the participants lay awake for longer and slept for less time overall than on the quiet night.
Study leader Mathias Basner classifies the results: «REM sleep is important for memory consolidation, emotion regulation and brain development. Our findings therefore suggest that playing pink noise and other types of broadband noise during sleep could be harmful - especially for children, whose brains are still developing and who spend much more time in REM sleep than adults».
Earplugs instead of pink noise as the best sleep guardians
While pink noise exacerbated the problem, earplugs performed best: With them, the sleep phases were no longer significantly different overall than on the quiet control night. Compared to the noise night, the participants with earplugs got almost as much deep sleep. So instead of depriving yourself of REM sleep with pink noise, it is better to use earplugs if you are disturbed by noise at night. According to the researchers, this allows you to regain over 70 per cent of the deep sleep you have lost on average.
However, the effect was not completely limitless. Although the earplugs mitigated most of the noise effects overall, at the highest tested volume (65 dBA) they also lost effectiveness.
Header image: nelen/Shutterstock
Anna Sandner
Senior Editor
Anna.Sandner@galaxus.deScience editor and biologist. I love animals and am fascinated by plants, their abilities and everything you can do with them. That's why my favourite place is always the outdoors - somewhere in nature, preferably in my wild garden.
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