How loud should sleep sounds be?
Short answer: quieter than you think. Sleep sounds work by blending in, not by drowning things out. Here are the numbers, a simple test you can do tonight, and when to be extra careful.
Why quieter works
Sleep sounds don't work by being louder than the noise that bothers you. They work by making changes less noticeable. A door closing in a silent house is a big jump in sound. The same door against a soft, steady background is a small jump. You only need enough background to shrink the jump, not to bury it.
That's good news, because it means the effective level is usually low. In a small 2017 lab study of 18 healthy adults, broadband sound played at about 46 dB, against a room that was about 40 dB to begin with, was enough to shorten the time to reach stage 2 sleep in a setup designed to make falling asleep harder. Six decibels above the room is barely more than a whisper.
The numbers that matter
Decibels are a log scale, so small numbers hide big differences: every 10 dB step sounds roughly twice as loud.
| Level | Roughly like | For sleep sounds |
|---|---|---|
| 30 dB | A very quiet bedroom, a whisper | Your room before sound |
| 40 to 50 dB | Quiet library, soft rain on a window | Where most sleep sounds should sit |
| 50 dBA | The level recommended for hospital nurseries | A sensible ceiling near a baby |
| 60 to 70 dBA | Normal conversation (NIH figure) | Too loud for all night |
| 70 dBA | NIH: unlikely to harm hearing even with long exposure | An upper limit, not a target |
| 85 dBA and up | A loud movie theater, motorcycles (NIH lists 74 to 110 dBA) | NIH: long or repeated exposure can cause hearing loss |
You don't need to measure your room to use this. The point is that sleep sounds belong near the bottom of the table.
A 30-second test you can do tonight
- Turn the sound all the way down, then start it.
- Lie down where you sleep.
- Raise the volume one step at a time until the sound that bothers you (traffic, a fridge, voices) starts to blend in.
- Stop there. Then go one step lower. If it still blends in, that's your level.
- Check you could still hear someone say your name from the doorway. If not, it's too loud.
If you keep wanting to go louder to cover a particular sound, change the sound instead of the volume. Voices are covered better by brighter sounds like white noise. Traffic and bass are covered better by deeper ones like brown noise.
Placement does half the work
- Distance. Keep the phone or speaker an arm's length or more from your head. Sound level drops quickly with distance, so moving a speaker from your pillow to your nightstand lowers what reaches your ears a lot.
- Between you and the noise. If the noise comes through the door, put the speaker near the door. It masks better at a lower level.
- Bounce it. Pointing a speaker at a wall spreads the sound around the room, which feels softer and covers more evenly than a beam at your face.
Headphones and earbuds
Headphones put sound right at your eardrum, so the same volume setting is much louder than a speaker across the room. If you sleep in headphones, for example for binaural beats, set them lower than feels natural and use iPhone's built-in tools:
- Reduce Loud Audio. In Settings > Sounds & Haptics > Headphone Safety, turn on Reduce Loud Audio and drag the slider to a low cap. iPhone lowers any headphone audio above that level.
- Live level meter. Add the Hearing control to Control Center and tap it while listening to see your headphone level in decibels.
- Weekly exposure. Apple's headphone notifications are based on an exposure limit of, for example, about 80 dB for 40 hours across 7 days. Eight hours a night for a week is 56 hours, so all-night headphone listening needs to stay well below that level.
Babies need extra care
Sound machines for infants are popular, and the advice is to keep them low and far away. A 2014 Pediatrics study tested 14 infant sleep machines and found that, at maximum volume, all of them exceeded 50 dBA, the limit recommended for hospital nurseries, when measured 30 cm (about a foot) away. Three went above 85 dBA, a level that would exceed adult workplace limits if played for more than 8 hours.
Practical rules: put the machine across the room, never in the crib or on the rail, use a low setting, and use a timer if your pediatrician suggests one.
All night or a timer?
Low volume is what makes all-night sound reasonable. If you'd rather not run it all night, a slow fade is gentler than a sudden stop. Our all-night setup guide covers keeping sound going with the screen off, and the iPhone settings that stop it cutting out.
In the SleepBetter.ai app
You can layer a soft brainwave beat under any sound and set the mix with a blend slider, so the beat stays a quiet background layer. The sleep timer fades out gently, or you can let sound play all night and fade out by your wake-up time.
Questions
How loud should white noise be for adults?
Just loud enough that the sounds that bother you blend in, and no louder. For most bedrooms that's somewhere around the level of a quiet conversation or lower. In one lab study, broadband sound at about 46 dB, only about 6 dB above the room, was enough to make a measurable difference.
Can white noise damage your hearing?
At normal sleep-sound levels, it's very unlikely. NIH's hearing institute says sounds at or below 70 dBA are unlikely to cause hearing loss even after long exposure, while long or repeated exposure at or above 85 dBA can. The risk comes from turning it up high, especially in headphones or right next to your head.
How loud should white noise be for a baby?
Keep it quiet and well away from the crib. A 2014 Pediatrics study found infant sleep machines all exceeded the 50 dBA limit recommended for hospital nurseries when played at maximum volume and measured 30 cm away. Use a low setting, put the machine across the room, and ask your pediatrician if you're unsure.
Is it OK to sleep with headphones playing sound?
Many people do. Keep the volume low, since sound in headphones reaches your eardrum directly, and use iPhone's Reduce Loud Audio setting to cap the level. Apple's headphone notifications use, for example, over 80 dB for 40 hours within 7 days, and a full week of nights in headphones adds up to more than 40 hours.
Sources
- NIDCD (NIH): Noise-induced hearing loss.
- Hugh SC et al. Infant sleep machines and hazardous sound pressure levels. Pediatrics, 2014.
- Messineo L et al. Broadband sound administration improves sleep onset latency in healthy subjects in a model of transient insomnia. Frontiers in Neurology, 2017.
- Apple Support: Check your headphone audio levels on iPhone.
- Apple Support: Headphone notifications on your iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch.
This page is general information about sound and sleep habits, not medical advice. If poor sleep is affecting your days, talk to a doctor or a sleep specialist.