White noise serves two basic functions for babies, according to behavioral sleep psychologist Lynelle Schneeberg, Psy.D., author of Become Your Child’s Sleep Coach and director of the Behavioral Sleep Program at Connecticut Children’s Medical Center. “It masks intermittent household sounds that might wake the baby (cars honking, doors slamming, [and] dishwasher loading,” she says. It also can provide a “sleep cue” for babies. “In other words, hearing the sound from the white noise machine becomes a cue for sleep in the same way that having the television on can be a sleep cue for an adult,” Schneeberg says. Based on the findings, the researchers recommend that parents keep the volume low. “White noise machines should have their volume set as low as effective, and never louder than conversational level,” says Kevin Franck, Ph.D., director of audiology at Massachusetts Eye and Ear. While 6.5 feet is the recommended distance, it’s perfectly OK to move the white noise machine even farther from your baby if you have the space. “Loudness decreases as a speaker becomes more distant, so ensure that the sound isn’t too loud where the baby is,” Franck says. “I recommend using these only early on—during the first six months of life or so until the baby’s sleep consolidates—and then tapering these away over time after infancy so that the child can sleep well with normal household noise and can fall asleep in any environment more easily,” Schneeberg says. “Most of us did not grow up sleeping with white noise, and we did OK.”
