Sleep Sounds
A steady sound gives your brain something neutral to hold onto, so the refrigerator hum, the neighbour's door, and your own looping thoughts stop standing out. These three sounds are synthesized live by your browser — rain, pink noise, and slow ocean waves — with a sleep timer that fades them out once you are asleep.
Steady rainfall — white noise softened through a low filter, the classic focus-and-sleep mask.
Keep it quieter than you think you need — masking sounds should sit under conversation level, and if you sleep with earbuds, use your device's volume limit. Timed sessions you let finish are saved to My Results in this browser.
What sleep sounds can — and can't — do
Sound masking works by shrinking contrast. In a silent room, every small noise — a pipe ticking, a car outside — is a cliff edge your half-asleep brain notices; a continuous sound raises the floor so those edges become slopes. Pink noise is the usual favourite for sleep because its energy is balanced across octaves, which makes it sound deeper and less hissy than white noise. The ocean setting here is brown noise with a slow swell, closer to a fan that breathes.
The honest limits, because this site keeps them visible: sleep sounds mask noise, they do not treat insomnia, sleep apnea, or any other condition — if you lie awake for hours most nights, the evidence-based first-line treatment is CBT-I, not a louder soundscape. Think of sounds as one piece of the environment, alongside a consistent wake time and the rest of the sleep hygiene basics. And if you want to know whether any of it is working, keep the sleep diary for two weeks and look at your actual sleep efficiency — or settle your nervous system first with progressive muscle relaxation, then press play.
Sleep sounds are a comfort and masking tool, not a treatment for insomnia or any sleep disorder. Keep the volume low — below conversation level — and follow your device's volume limits with earbuds. Persistent sleep problems, loud snoring with breathing pauses, or severe daytime sleepiness deserve an in-person medical conversation.
Frequently asked questions
Are these real recordings?
No — and that is deliberate. Each sound is generated live in your browser with the WebAudio API from a noise algorithm (filtered white noise for rain, Kellet pink noise, leaky brown noise with a slow swell for the ocean). There are no audio files on this site, so nothing streams, nothing downloads, and the sounds never loop audibly or run out.
Which sound is best for sleep?
The one whose texture you stop noticing. Pink noise suits most people: it sounds deeper and steadier than rain's higher hiss. The ocean swell helps if a flat sound starts to feel oppressive, because the slow rhythm gives the brain a pattern to rest on. Try each for a few nights and judge by your sleep diary, not by the first five minutes.
How does the sleep timer work?
Pick 15, 30, or 60 minutes before or during play. The sound keeps going at full volume, then fades out gently over the last five seconds once the timer ends — so you are not woken by a sudden silence cliff. Letting a timed session finish saves a small record to My Results in this browser.
Is it safe to listen all night?
At low volume, continuous masking sounds are considered safe for adults — keep it below conversation level (you should be able to hear someone speaking to you), and never fall asleep with the volume high. If you use earbuds, turn on your device's headphone volume limit. Many people prefer a timer so the second half of the night is naturally quiet.
Will sleep sounds fix my insomnia?
No. They can make a noisy environment easier to sleep in and can become a useful wind-down cue, but chronic insomnia responds to CBT-I — a structured therapy — not to sound. If poor sleep has lasted more than a few weeks and is affecting your days, that conversation with a clinician matters more than any tool on this page.
Keep going
Your results from every tool are saved only in this browser — see them together on My Results.