Creating White Noise Files To Listen To While Sleeping

I've used an audio software program called Audacity to create large sound files consisting of white noise that I listen to through earbuds at night. The sound masks outside sounds such as snoring and street noise.

Here's how to do it. First, start Audacity. Click on "Generate" and "Noise". Select your type of noise -- I find white noise too harsh and use brownian (a/k/a brown) noise. Your other choice is pink. Keep the amplitude at the default of 0.8, and decide how long you want your sound file to be. Longer means a larger file. I usually pick 10 hours. Click OK to generate the file, which will appear on your screen. It can take a few minutes to generate.

Second, click "File" and "Export". Name your file and save it. I save my file as an mp3 (a compressed format) because most players will play it. An uncompressed format is too large. My 10 hour sound file is 549 megabytes.

I load the mp3 file on a small mp3 player -- I use a Sandisk Zip Clip 4MB because it's small and light. The player holds 4 gigabytes or fata, so there'splenty of room for my white noise file. I use Klipsch earbuds (in-ear headphones) with medium oval flexible tips. Don't I get tangled up sleeping? Not really, the cables to the earbuds are slender and supple, and I don't turn over much, but sometimes I have to move the mp3 player over to the other side of the bed. It's best to have small, light earbuds. Sound quality isn't very important with white noise.

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Email me with your comments at wespar at bellsouth dot net.