White and pink noise: what is that?

Have you heard about our myHummy families: the Sweethearts, the Smarthearts and the Sleephearts? Each of these brave bears emits 5 types of sounds. While most of us know the sound of waves or rain, white noise and pink noise sound a bit mysterious. What is that, then?

Things parents talk about
New parents seem to be speaking a secret language. You can hear them talking about “humming”, “hairdryer”, “extractor fans” in the contexts that you do not understand.

But the secret code hides the essence. And the essence is the monotony of sounds. Monotonous sounds work like magic when it comes to soothing and lulling most newborns and babies, giving tired parents a moment of rest.

White and pink noise
An easy way to visualise the difference between white and pink noise is to imagine the sound of falling rain. Imagine listening to it from an open window – this is similar to white noise. Now imagine listening through a closed window – this is like pink noise.

With white noise, both low and high sound frequencies are present at the same intensity. It’s the high frequencies in white noise that makes it sound “clearer”. With pink noise, the low frequencies are more intense than the high frequencies. This makes the pink noise sound more “gentle” and “subdued”.

White noise has been shown to help babies soothe and fall asleep. Pink noise, however, helps them stay asleep.

Sounds in the womb
The research has confirmed that noise with constant spectral density has a beneficial effect on the human nervous system. This is also true for newborns. White or pink noise are similar to the sounds heard by babies in the womb. The womb is far from being soundproof! In the womb, babies are exposed to the sounds of the outside world that the amniotic fluid transmit, as well as the monotonous sounds of the flowing blood and amniotic fluid itself.

You can do a little experiment to see what it’s like. Submerge yourself in a bathtub full of water or in a swimming pool. Can you hear it? The sounds are distorted and muffled. In such conditions, we perceive noises, conversations, music or traffic in a specific way. It is strangely soothing, don’t you think?

Too loud, too quiet!
The moment of birth is a tremendous change for the baby. Humming and muffled sounds suddenly turn into sharp noises of the outside world. For the newborn’s ears, this is quite a challenge. But so is the complete silence. That is why surrounding the baby with the sound of the heartbeat or sound (white or pink) may have a soothing effect. This will remind the baby of the safety and warmth of the womb.

myHummy to the rescue
Some babies will be better soothed by the sound of mum’s heartbeat while others will peacefully fall asleep listening to white noise. Since the youngest children have different needs, each myHummy bear emits five types of sounds. These resemble: the sound of sea waves, rain, heartbeat, white noise and pink noise. Try all of them and find which one is your baby’s favourite. Even if your little one is no longer a newborn, you can still introduce the sleep aid. It is never too late to make friends with the myHummy teddy ❤️