Why there's brown noise under the rain
Rain is mostly hiss, and hiss works on everything that sits above a rumble: the neighbor's TV, a door, steps in the hallway, a faucet running upstairs. Those sounds stop standing out. A truck at the lights or a boiler in the basement passes right through it, however far you push the volume.
Brown noise is a deep rumble itself, so it covers the sounds down there. Having it under the rain also means you can keep the rain quieter, which matters more than it sounds. Turn rain up on its own and eventually the drips are the loudest thing in the room.
If you keep turning the rain up
Rain sounds loud before it sounds like it's working, so the urge is to keep going until the neighbor disappears. A voice through a wall never quite disappears. Your ear hunts for words inside whatever you play, so rain blurs them and leaves them there, and you end up sleeping in twice as much noise.
Aim for the level where the sound you're covering stops pulling your attention. You'll still hear it if you go looking for it. What changes is that you stop waking up to check. If a rumble is still getting through, the brown noise is the one to turn up, and the rain can stay where it is.
Should it stop after 45 minutes, or run all night?
Forty-five minutes covers falling asleep, which is the part most people want help with, and it's the setting this page opens on. Match it to your noise instead of to a rule. A neighbor who comes home at midnight is a 45-minute problem. A road is not.
The row of buttons under the player has 30 min and 60 min as well, All night for eight hours, and Off if you'd rather stop it yourself. Whichever you pick, play your alarm over the top once and make sure you'd wake to it.
Tonight
- Press play. Rain comes up in front with a little brown noise under it, and the timer is set to 45 minutes.
- If the drips are the loudest thing you hear, turn the rain down a few steps until it sits behind the room.
- Set the level while the TV next door is actually on. A level you pick in a quiet bedroom will be too quiet by midnight.
- Tap 30 min or 60 min if you only need help dropping off, or All night for a road that's still busy at four.
Frequently asked questions
Is it bad to sleep with rain sounds every night?
For adults, at a volume you could talk over, there's no known harm in it. Hearing damage comes from loud sound close to the ear over long hours, so the thing to skip is a phone under your pillow with the volume up. You may come to expect the sound, which makes a silent hotel room feel strange for a night or two. A baby's room is the exception, where distance and a low volume matter more than anywhere else, and a pediatrician is the person to ask.
Do rain sounds count as white noise?
No. White noise is an even hiss that sounds the same from one minute to the next, and rain is weather, so it rises and falls second by second. Heavy rain gets closest to it, and gentle rain stays softer and duller. White noise covers voices more evenly, and most people find rain nicer to lie in.
How loud should rain be at night?
Quieter than feels right at first. Loud enough that the neighbor's TV stops pulling your attention and no louder, because past that point you're only adding noise to noise. Set it while the TV is on, then leave it alone, and check your alarm still cuts through.
Why is there brown noise under the rain?
Rain leaves a deep rumble alone: a truck, a boiler, bass from the apartment below. Brown noise is a deep rumble itself, so it covers that half of the room while the rain handles everything above it. If rumble is still getting through, turn the brown noise up and leave the rain alone.
Will this work on a phone speaker?
The rain will. The brown noise underneath mostly won't, because a phone speaker can't push out sound that deep. Low-profile earbuds you can lie on are the cheap fix, or a small bluetooth speaker on the floor or across the room instead of beside your pillow.
Should rain play all night, or stop on a timer?
A timer suits noise that ends. This page opens on 45 minutes, which covers falling asleep, and 30 min and 60 min sit beside it. If the road outside runs until morning, All night plays for eight hours, which beats waking into sudden silence at one in the morning.