Does pink noise really help you focus?

Type 'white noise' into YouTube, and you'll be met with thousands of videos with titles like 'White Noise for ADHD Relief' – and the same can be said for 'pink' and 'brown' noise. In fact, over the last few years, there has been increased media attention on the potential power of these dense, neutral sounds, particularly for those with ADHD.

In their recent paper, Joel T. Nigg and colleagues explore whether white or pink noise actually do help people with ADHD or other attention problems focus on tasks. Their systematic review and meta-analysis finds that, at least in lab settings, white noise does improve performance on tasks that require attention for those with ADHD symptoms — but that it can act as a distraction for those who don't.

The study drew from data from 13 studies with 335 participants, all of which looked at how different types of noise impact attention and cognitive function in children or young adults. Participants either had an existing ADHD diagnosis or showed elevated symptoms based on self-, parent-, or teacher-reported questionnaires, while eligible studies tested attention, concentration, executive function, or academic effort.

Analysis revealed that white and pink noise had a small but significant positive effect (around 8 to 10% improvement) on attention and executive function in individuals with ADHD. The results were consistent across studies. Interestingly, those not taking medication showed slightly stronger benefits from white or pink noise (though the small sample size in this analysis made this difficult to confirm).

This effect was reversed for individuals without ADHD — here, white and pink noise actually impaired task performance. This contrast highlights that while noise-based interventions may be beneficial specifically for those with ADHD or attention difficulties, deploying them in shared spaces such as classrooms may be detrimental to individuals without attentional difficulties.

While the effects were smaller than those of medication, the authors note that listening to pink or white noise was similarly effective to many other complementary interventions for ADHD, suggesting it could be a useful tool for those with symptoms looking to improve their attention. Even so, the researchers caution against drawing firm conclusions just yet, stressing that more high-quality studies are needed to confirm the efficacy of noise on attention.

Future research could also look at brown noise and how it differs from pink and white noise: while it wasn't studied here, its similar frequency characteristics suggest it may have comparable effects. The range of tasks included in the study also meant that researchers were unable to confirm which kinds of tasks really benefit from white or pink noise; clarifying which tasks do and don't benefit from them could also be useful for those hoping to improve their attention in different scenarios.

Read the paper in full:
Nigg, J. T., Bruton, A., Kozlowski, M. B., Johnstone, J. M., & Karalunas, S. L. (2024). Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis: Do White Noise and Pink Noise Help With Attention in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder? Journal of the American Academy of Child & Adolescent Psychiatry, 63(8). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaac.2023.12.014

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