White Noise Can Improve Memory, Boost Attention, and Reduce Stress

Music has evolved over the years, with new genres such as Classical, Reggae, Hip Hop, R&B, EDM, and Lofi, emerging over time. There has long been speculation about whether certain kinds of music can have an impact – positive or negative – on studying, creativity, and other aspects of brain function. Classical music and other instrumental forms of music often come up in this conversation. Recently, people have asked the more general question of whether certain kinds of sound can aid studying: for example, white noise, which is a steady static-like sound.

Existing studies about white noise have suggested that it may help improve sleep, reduce babies’ tendency to cry, increase work performance, and lower ADHD symptoms¹.

Specifically, a study conducted by the New York City Sleep Clinic gathered ten adult participants to examine the effects of white noise on sleep in a high noise environment². The study participants exposed to white noise saw significant sleep improvements, with a reduced number of awakenings and increased sleep duration².

Does white noise have an impact on brain functions like cognition and attention as well?

To test the question, 167 healthy human subjects were given five behavioral experiments to test their memory, perceptual judgment, and spatial recognition³.

The results of the test were as follows:

• Acoustic white noise impairs working memory accuracy.
• White noise accelerated perceptual judgment during a reward based long-term memory test (recognition memory wasn’t affected).
• White noise in attentional orienting was weakly correlated with reward dependence.

In short, there don’t seem to be dramatic positive effects of white noise on cognition, and in some cases minor negative effects – at least in this study. Another study, however, suggests white noise can help improve cognition for individuals with a lower attention level. The study involved 80 participants in a single training session to test recollection through 5 learning phases. The group that were exposed to white noise demonstrated improved recall accuracy⁴.

Yet another study focused on individuals diagnosed with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). Participants listened to 2 different white noise levels, one at 45 dB and the other at 65 dB while conducting a test to examine cognitive performance, creativity, and stress levels. The study found that white noise at 45 dB improves cognitive performance with sustained attention, speed of performance, increased creativity levels, decreased stress levels, and improved accuracy. White noise at 65 dB improved working memory. However stress levels also increased as a result⁵. Thus, the intensity of the white noise is an important factor to consider.

After examining the studies, white noise has been shown to have a positive impact on work performance, cognition, creativity, and stress levels in certain contexts. With these results, white noise interventions can be implemented for those who have a hard time managing stress, have difficulty maintaining attention for a substantial amount of time, or who are simply looking to boost studying performance or creativity levels.