Brown noise and ADHD: what’s behind it

Does brown noise help with ADHD? Some people say the deep, steady noise makes it easier for them to stay with a task. Scientifically, though, such an effect hasn’t been sufficiently shown so far. A 2024 meta-analysis found small benefits on lab tasks – but for white and pink noise, not for brown noise. Here’s what’s behind the topic of brown noise and ADHD, and what you can take from it for your working day.

What is brown noise?

Brown noise is a type of noise whose energy sits mainly in the low frequencies. The higher the frequency, the weaker it gets. It sounds dark and soft, a bit like a distant waterfall or the hum inside a plane. White noise, by contrast, contains high and low frequencies at roughly equal strength and sounds bright and hissy. Pink noise sits in between.

For more on the differences – including how rain and waves compare – read Rain, waves, brown noise – what’s the difference?

What does the 2024 meta-analysis show?

In 2024, a team led by Joel Nigg published a meta-analysis on noise and task performance in ADHD (Nigg et al., 2024). It brings together 13 studies, published up to November 2023, with 335 children, adolescents and young adults with ADHD or elevated ADHD symptoms. Twelve studies looked at white noise, only one at pink noise.

The key findings:

A small benefit on lab tasks. With noise, participants did slightly better on average than in quiet conditions. The effect was small, but statistically significant.
No benefit in the comparison groups. Participants without ADHD or elevated attention difficulties did slightly worse with noise on average. That applies to the tasks studied and doesn’t mean noise is generally bad for working.
No suitable brown noise study. So the meta-analysis offers no direct evidence of an effect of brown noise in ADHD. Whether the white noise findings carry over remains an open question.
Limited relevance to everyday life. The noise only played for a few minutes at a time, and eleven of the 13 studies involved children and adolescents. Whether the results apply to longer stretches of work in adults is unclear.

The researchers rate the certainty of the evidence as moderate and say more data is needed before clear clinical recommendations can be made. And doing slightly better on a short lab task isn’t the same as a lasting improvement in ADHD symptoms or everyday difficulties.

How might the effect be explained?

One of the starting points of this research is a study from Sweden. In 2007, Göran Söderlund and colleagues had 21 children with ADHD and 21 without complete memory tasks, once in silence and once with white noise. The children with ADHD did better with noise; the children without ADHD did worse (Söderlund et al., 2007).

The researchers explain this with stochastic resonance: a certain amount of background noise can make weak signals easier to detect. Too little does nothing, too much gets in the way. One theoretical explanation for this is the Moderate Brain Arousal model by Sverker Sikström and Göran Söderlund, also from 2007 (Sikström & Söderlund, 2007). The model assumes that, under certain conditions, additional external stimulation can improve task performance in ADHD.

Importantly, this is a model that researchers are studying and debating – not a settled explanation. The meta-analysis doesn’t confirm any particular mechanism either. Söderlund was involved in six of the 13 studies; the authors checked this, and the small effect remained even without those studies.

Why do some people find brown noise pleasant?

If the studies looked almost exclusively at white noise, why is brown noise in particular so popular? There’s no scientific answer yet. Two things might play a part:

The sound. In brown noise, the high frequencies are much weaker. That makes it sound deeper and less hissy than white noise, which some people find more pleasant. But which kind of noise feels comfortable varies from person to person, and some find brown noise unpleasant too.
Masking. A steady background sound can make other sounds stand out less. Experts call this masking. Against an even background, individual sounds like a door or a laugh may be less noticeable. How well this works depends on the background sound and on the noise you use.

So personal sound preferences and the masking of background noise may contribute to its popularity. That doesn’t demonstrate a specific effect of brown noise on ADHD.

How can you try brown noise sensibly?

The simplest way to find out whether brown noise works for you is to try it. Think of this as an everyday way to form your own impression – not a test and not a treatment.

Start quietly. Start at a very low volume and don’t keep turning it up to drown out a noisy environment. The WHO suggests less than 60 per cent of your device’s maximum volume as a guide and recommends regular listening breaks and using any volume warnings your device offers. What matters is volume and listening time together.
Compare several short work sessions. Pick similar tasks: once without any added sound, once with quiet brown noise. Afterwards, jot down how pleasant it felt and how well you stayed with the task. Try not to change music, volume and surroundings at the same time.
Separate “pleasant” from “helpful”. Does the sound feel nice – and are you actually getting on better with your task? Those aren’t necessarily the same thing.
Try alternatives. If brown noise feels too muffled, try rain or calm music without vocals. You don’t have to like any particular sound. If the noise bothers you, switch it off.
Think about your surroundings. You can also cut down on notifications and tidy your field of view. You’ll find ideas in Setting up a low-stimulation workspace.

Want to find out whether the sound suits you? On Locoustic you can try brown noise with no sign-up and no ads – on its own or as a background to the music in the player.

Limits: not a proven ADHD treatment

Brown noise is not a treatment. It doesn’t replace an assessment, advice, therapy or medication.
It isn’t an ADHD test. Whether you like noise or find it helpful for work says nothing about whether you have ADHD.
Volume is an open question. The studies don’t establish which volume would be suitable for regular use as an attention aid. General advice on protecting your hearing applies regardless.

Locoustic is an acoustic tool for your working day, not a medical device. If you have questions about ADHD, the NHS overview of ADHD is a good starting point. If you’re considering an assessment, you can start by talking it through with your GP.

The bottom line: try it, without expecting too much

For white noise, studies show a small benefit on short lab tasks, mainly in children and adolescents with ADHD. An effect of brown noise on attention in ADHD can’t be inferred from these studies. That so many people like it anyway probably has to do with its soft sound and the way it masks background noise.

If a steady noise helps you settle into your work, that’s a good reason to use it. You don’t need a diagnosis for that, and you don’t need to expect miracles.