One of the homemade tips that every recent father receives to calm the baby's crying, is that we bring them closer to a source of white noise, the other is that you put it in the car and take it for a walk in the neighborhood until fall asleep, but let's leave this last tip as the last option.
But, Why does white noise calm some babies? You could say that simply because it covers the rest of the noise and the fact is that it does not always work either.
We call white noise to the one who occupies the entire audible spectrum by the human being. Let's see if I can make myself understood. Suppose an orchestra, when a violin plays a note, it vibrates on a certain frequency. Well, if we put the whole orchestra to play the same note but with small variations regarding the frequency of vibration we would have a white noise, very expensive, but white noise after all.
But why calm?
One of the things that not everyone knows, is that it not only calms babies but also adults and there are even companies that sell personalized white noise discs for each customer.
The operation is simple, the white noise acts as a masker for the rest of the noise and as it is a constant noise without ups and downs, it makes the brain calm down and can fall asleep. The same happens when we change houses, it is difficult for us to fall asleep, not only because we are in a bed that is not ours, but because the environmental noises are not the ones we are accustomed to hearing. When a noise wakes us up, it is not only because of the noise itself, but because there has been a mismatch in the ambient noise we are hearing.
Babies are the same as us, but in a much more empowered way. When your brain is overexcited, by the crying itself, this noise causes that in certain cases they stop being heard by the masking effect that white noises produce and so they can calm down so that it is easier for them to fall asleep.
Is that why when you approach the lit appliances you calm down?
An appliance, with some type of rotor system, has the ability to at certain revolutions cause a noise capable of covering much of the spectrum. That is why when we bring our children to the extractor hood or a dryer they calm down. Another way to get white noises is with a radio, leaving the dial at a point where we do not tune any channels or also with televisions, tuning them in manually, until we get to see the famous "gray fog", it is cheap and you don't have to pay canon to the SGAE.
There are mobile applications such as:
Nightlight & Sleep sounds paid Android application, which reproduces different types of images and sounds, including white noise.
Sleepy Time, also for android and paid, only plays sounds, including several types of white noise.
White noise relax and sleep, free and for android, combines white noise with screen lighting.
Baby Sleep White Noise, for Apple, for payment reproduces different types of sounds, from white noise to maternal belly sounds.
Dream Machine also paid, for Apple devices, plays different sounds.
Now I just have to understand how it is possible for a baby to be able to fall asleep with the music at full speed and that the noise you make when sitting on the sofa will wake you up.
