Guides
White noise for babies
White noise is a continuous sound that carries every frequency at roughly equal strength. To the ear it sounds like a shower, a fan in the next room, or radio static. Pink and brown noise belong to the same family, with the high frequencies rolled off so they sound softer.
Agubu's white noise is generated on the device, works offline, and its sleep timer fades the sound out instead of cutting it off.
On this page
Why it helps some babies
There are two plausible explanations.
The womb was not a quiet place. What a baby heard before birth was a continuous low-frequency rumble made of blood flow and the sounds of their mother's body. Absolute silence after birth is not the familiar environment.
Masking. A steady sound lowers how much sudden sounds stand out. A door closing, a car horn outside, a conversation in another room — all of them draw less attention when there is a constant hum behind them. What usually wakes a baby is not loudness but a sudden change in sound.
How strong is the evidence
The honest answer: weak and mixed. Small studies suggest it helps some babies fall asleep faster, but the numbers of participants are low and the results do not repeat in every study. There is no evidence supporting "it works for every baby."
In practice that means: try it for a week and let your own record tell you. Agubu logs which sound played on which night, so you can base the decision on your data rather than on a story.
Safe volume and distance
This is the most important section of the article, because mistakes here accumulate silently.
A measurement study published in Pediatrics found that every infant sound machine tested exceeded the 50 decibel limit recommended for hospital nurseries when measured at 30 centimetres on the highest setting, and several went past 85 decibels. Eighty-five decibels is the level at which adult workplaces require hearing protection.
Practical rules:
- Do not place the device or your phone in or on the edge of the cot. Keep it at least one to two metres away.
- Keep the volume low enough that you can still speak in a normal voice in the room and be heard easily. If it drowns you out, it is too loud.
- Avoid headphones, sound-producing toys attached to the cot, and any speaker close to the baby's ear.
- Do not let a loud setting become the habit, even briefly. Turning it down once the baby has settled is always a good move.
When to turn it off
There is no mandatory rule, but two approaches are common:
- Leave it on through the sleep. Because the environment does not change at the end of a sleep cycle, some babies drift back down more easily. If you do this, keep the volume genuinely low.
- Use a timer. Fading out 20 to 30 minutes after the baby has fallen asleep is usually enough. Agubu's sleep timer does this without cutting the sound off abruptly.
Do not leave it running all day while the baby is awake. Babies begin learning language by hearing speech, and an all-day hum masks exactly that.
Does it become a habit
A baby can become attached to any sleep association — rocking, being held, a sound. That is not harm, only a dependency: travelling or a broken device may cost you an adjustment period. If you want to stop, lowering the volume gradually over a few nights is easier than cutting it off at once.
When to see a doctor
- Your baby does not react to loud sounds or does not turn toward where a sound comes from
- The newborn hearing screen was not done, or the result was inconclusive
- Ear discharge, ear pulling, fever or unsettled sleep together with these signs
- You are unsure about the volume — asking your paediatrician is the shortest route
In an emergency, call your local emergency number.
Sources
This article draws on the general guidance of the sources below. It contains no quoted text.
- American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) — publications on infant sound machines and sound levels
- Measurement study of infant sound machine output levels published in Pediatrics (2014)
- NHS (United Kingdom) — infant sleep and hearing information
- World Health Organization — guidance on noise exposure and hearing health
This article is general information, not medical advice. If your baby has a specific health condition, the instructions your clinician gave you apply.
