Silence is loud.

In a quiet room, every small sound becomes a distraction. The AC clicking. A car outside. Your own breathing. Your brain latches onto anything.

Music doesn’t work either. Lyrics pull your attention. Even instrumental music has too much variation. Your brain follows the melody instead of the work.

I needed something in between.

The science of ambient sound

Your brain craves stimulation. In silence, it seeks it out — which means distractions.

Ambient sounds give your brain just enough input to stay satisfied without demanding attention. It’s background that stays background.

This is why people work well in coffee shops. The murmur of conversation and clinking cups creates a blanket of sound. Not interesting enough to follow. Interesting enough to mask silence.

What works for different tasks

Deep work: Low, consistent sounds. Rain. White noise. Brown noise.

Creative work: Slightly more texture. Coffee shop ambiance. Gentle thunderstorms.

Sleep: Slow, rhythmic sounds. Ocean waves. Gentle rain. No sudden changes.

The key is consistency. Your brain tunes out predictable sounds. It alerts to novel ones.

Why most sound apps suck

I tried a bunch. Problems:

  • Ads interrupting your flow. Nothing kills focus like a 30-second ad for car insurance.
  • Sounds that loop badly. You hear the same rain pattern every 45 seconds. Your brain notices.
  • Too many features. I don’t need social sharing and achievements in a white noise app.
  • Subscription models. $5/month for rain sounds? Come on.

So I built WhiteNoise

Simple. Clean. No garbage.

WhiteNoise gives you:

  • Curated library of ambient sounds
  • Mix multiple sounds together
  • Sleep timer with gentle fade
  • Works offline (no streaming, no interruptions)
  • No ads. No subscription. Pay once.

Rain on a window. Distant thunder. Crackling fire. Coffee shop murmur. Ocean waves.

Pick your soundscape. Block out the world. Do the work.

Or just finally fall asleep.

— Dolce