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HOME. titles. safety/cautions. professionalism. prices & buying. downloads & shipping. warranty. white noise /alpha waves.
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HOME. titles. safety/cautions. professionalism. prices & buying. downloads & shipping. warranty. white noise /alpha waves.
alpha brain waves info. feedback.
________________________________________________________
Consultations in clinic or by skype, & CD sales, To 18YRS OR OVER ONLY, sorry
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What is White Noise?
Read BELOW (just scroll down) for an explanation on natural White Noise.
For an explanation of BRAIN WAVES & the ALPHA WAVE WHITE NOISE CD. click HERE |
WHITE NOISE:
This is something I (Stan) began to study many years ago. Back then I had read somewhere that this kind of sound is very soothing to listen to, and seeing as I was a person of a passionate disposition, I thought I would see exactly what this kind of random noise could do for me to calm my nerves when I needed them to be calm.
EXACTLY WHAT IS WHITE NOISE?:
White noise is a mix of every sound and noise in the world; it contains every frequency we are capable of hearing. So what does it sound like? Well... like everything and nothing. It is the sound of wind as it rushes through trees, the sound of steady rain, the sound of a mother gently saying "shhhhh..." to her baby, the continuous sound of the seashore if you live near the sea, the sound of a waterfall, the sound you hear when you hold a seashell close to your ear (remember your mother telling you that you could hear the sound of the sea when you held a seashell close to your ear?).
IS WHITE NOISE FOUND ONLY IN NATURE?
No, it can be artificially produced in a sound studio by special electronic equipment and recorded directly to a CD or audio file for later listening in the home or office. Always though, white noise, however produced, is for sure a hissing, rushing, shhh, kind of sound.
ARTIFICIALLY-PRODUCED white noise is a very steady sound. It doesn't vary or waver in intensity at all. However, when NATURE produces white noise by wind, rain, or sea, there is a random slight shift in sound level which goes on all the time (except that the rush of a waterfall tends to be a steady sound). This NATURAL white noise sound especially, with the slight variation in it, is very COMFORTING to the human ear.
ARTIFICIALLY-PRODUCED white noise is a very steady sound. It doesn't vary or waver in intensity at all. However, when NATURE produces white noise by wind, rain, or sea, there is a random slight shift in sound level which goes on all the time (except that the rush of a waterfall tends to be a steady sound). This NATURAL white noise sound especially, with the slight variation in it, is very COMFORTING to the human ear.
WHY PEOPLE MIGHT WANT SOOTHING WHITE NOISE AROUND THEM
A background of white noise, whether made by
human or nature, has a powerful effect of peace and relaxation on people. White noise, when used as a soft background noise, say, in the home, will also help drown out unwanted noises from
outside to a perhaps surprising degree, but its primary use is not always to drown out the racket coming at you through your windows when all you really want is some peace and quiet. A couple of anecdotes follow:
THE COMPUTER BUSINESS AND THE MOTORWAY
RAMP: In the late 1980s, an international computer business with a major base in Wellington New Zealand all of a sudden had a problem with
traffic noise when a new motorway ramp was built right by the building. Sound engineers were brought in, and quickly
discounted ideas like providing added sound insulation or walling up the
windows to keep the noise out, etc.
Eventually, they came up with a cost-effective plan to put a soft background of constant white
noise through the office public address system.
This soft sound covered the harsh distracting din of the motorway traffic and
allowed the computer software developers to continue their important mental
concentration in perceived peace and quiet.
How So? In this particular application the white noise was indeed used as a cover up for the traffic noise outside the windows, and here is where the special quality of white noise saved the day for the computer company: White noise may in fact be quite loud, but it doesn't sound loud (unless one goes overboard with the volume control...), it tends to always sound soft and gentle. But as it was set loud enough to drown out the random traffic noise, all the software developers ended up hearing was, at first, a perceived soft and gentle sound of white noise. Then, white noise being perceived by the brain as a completely non-threatening sound from nature from the moment humans first walked the earth, that perceived "friendly" sound was "tuned out" by the brain and, so far as the software developers perceived it, they were doing their work in perfect natural quietness.
This story is true. It was written up in the Wellington daily newspapers at the time, as an innovative solution to a traffic noise problem. The company was the Sperry computer company - a major international player in those days, and they had a floor in Greenock House, The Terrace, Wellington New Zealand.
This story is true. It was written up in the Wellington daily newspapers at the time, as an innovative solution to a traffic noise problem. The company was the Sperry computer company - a major international player in those days, and they had a floor in Greenock House, The Terrace, Wellington New Zealand.
In my (Stan's) humble opinion, this use of noise to make silence was not magic, but the pragmatic, practical application of white noise to make a perceived quiet background for the staff and thus solve a real-world urban problem - and it happened to work! (and as I recall all these years later, the white noise - more accurately they termed it "pink"* noise - was artificially generated by electronics, but I cannot swear to that now).
(* To explain simply, "pink" noise is white noise with a boosted lower register - it sounds a bit "bassier").
(* To explain simply, "pink" noise is white noise with a boosted lower register - it sounds a bit "bassier").
MOTHERS and BABIES:
It so happened years ago, in my research into white noise, I began to hear and read anecdotes from a few mothers who had found a way to solve their distress over their failures to put their babies down to sleep - and the babies in turn, becoming progressively over-tired and grumpy, would also become distressed - until some of those mothers began to use white noise in the nursery at sleep times. That was one reason that originally prompted me to make a white noise CD and market it to mothers.
And, so gratifying for all concerned, every single mother who reported back to me about her use of white noise, told me it helped her baby into happy, peaceful sleep without any fuss. No mother ever told me it did not work. So mothers, while I have no peer-reviewed formal scientific research to prove that white noise is great for putting babies to sleep, I surely do have some very grateful independent feedback on long-ish term display, from mothers on the Trademe website (one of the places I sell my white noise CDs, under my Trademe member name of Stan011).
Your baby hard to get to sleep? Email me at hypno4all@nym.hush.com and order the White Noise CD of your choice directly from me. Either one is good, you just choose your preference of sleeping "by the ocean" (the "Whisperings of the Pacific" CD or mp3), or sleeping to the sound of steady, gentle rain ("Aramoho Rain" - CD or mp3).
It so happened years ago, in my research into white noise, I began to hear and read anecdotes from a few mothers who had found a way to solve their distress over their failures to put their babies down to sleep - and the babies in turn, becoming progressively over-tired and grumpy, would also become distressed - until some of those mothers began to use white noise in the nursery at sleep times. That was one reason that originally prompted me to make a white noise CD and market it to mothers.
And, so gratifying for all concerned, every single mother who reported back to me about her use of white noise, told me it helped her baby into happy, peaceful sleep without any fuss. No mother ever told me it did not work. So mothers, while I have no peer-reviewed formal scientific research to prove that white noise is great for putting babies to sleep, I surely do have some very grateful independent feedback on long-ish term display, from mothers on the Trademe website (one of the places I sell my white noise CDs, under my Trademe member name of Stan011).
Your baby hard to get to sleep? Email me at hypno4all@nym.hush.com and order the White Noise CD of your choice directly from me. Either one is good, you just choose your preference of sleeping "by the ocean" (the "Whisperings of the Pacific" CD or mp3), or sleeping to the sound of steady, gentle rain ("Aramoho Rain" - CD or mp3).
The History of the WHISPERINGS OF THE PACIFIC White Noise CD
Although long ago I had built an electronic generator of white noise and turned it on in my own city dwelling, I nevertheless wanted to use a natural source of white noise for my CDs for sale, figuring - for no particular reason - that Mother Nature would somehow be a better provider of white noise than my rock-steady artificial electronic machine.
The ONLY sounds you will hear on my Whisperings of the Pacific CD will
be the natural white noise sound of the world's largest ocean, the "Peaceful Ocean"
(Pacific). On a cold winter's night in July 2005 in coastal Christchurch New Zealand, I stood near Cave Rock on the beach with my portable recording equipment as dusk fell. I chose winter, and dusk, because I did not want any people, dogs or cars around to make distracting sounds on my recording. Even the seagulls were away somewhere else. Mother Nature offered up a calm night, not much wind,
as the ocean quietly spoke to me. This made for a remarkably steady recorded sound in spite of the fact that waves gently breaking on the shoreline were making the sound. There are of course small variations in sound level as would be perfectly normal in natural white noise. Sometimes the lapping waves did create minor changes in volume or tone as they ebbed and flowed around Cave Rock. Nothing has been added or changed about the recording; it sounds exactly as I first heard it on the night I recorded it. and this is the very same sound that the babies in their nurseries in the above anecdote went to sleep by...
The Whisperings of the Pacific CD is one hour long. For baby, that should be plenty of time to pop off to sleep: For you, dear reader, if you like, set your CD player to "repeat" and then you can "sleep by the ocean all night" (or at least think you are...).
And now, by popular demand. . .
Introducing the "Aramoho Rain" CD.
In 2017, due to popular demand, I introduced a different yet still all-natural genuine White Noise choice. It is one hour of soothing steady rain. Everything that has been said of the Whisperings of the Pacific CD of white noise, can also be said about the Aramoho Rain CD.
And now, by popular demand. . .
Introducing the "Aramoho Rain" CD.
In 2017, due to popular demand, I introduced a different yet still all-natural genuine White Noise choice. It is one hour of soothing steady rain. Everything that has been said of the Whisperings of the Pacific CD of white noise, can also be said about the Aramoho Rain CD.
Either of the Natural White Noise CDs (rain or seashore sound) will work equally well. Customer feedback suggests that whichever one you use is largely a matter of personal choice, for both of these natural sources of White Noise can be very relaxing.
PINK NOISE / WHITE NOISE / HINTS to SETTING UP YOUR CD IN YOUR ROOM
Everything I have written about white noise on this page, also is true for "pink" noise. In the audio profession, both are recognised as being a full spectrum of all sounds that there are, all mixed in together. The difference is that pink noise has a bassier sound to it, its energy decreases up through the octaves. White noise by contrast has equal energy all the way up through the octaves.
I would suggest that the choice of whether to use white noise or pink noise in a particular case, might have more to do with balancing the sound with the acoustics of the space you are going to use it in. Certainly, I sometimes "pinkified" my artificial white noise by adjusting my graphic equalizer or tone control for some treble cut if the acoustics of the room I was in meant that the white noise was going to sound a bit harsher than I felt it should be.
I would suggest that the choice of whether to use white noise or pink noise in a particular case, might have more to do with balancing the sound with the acoustics of the space you are going to use it in. Certainly, I sometimes "pinkified" my artificial white noise by adjusting my graphic equalizer or tone control for some treble cut if the acoustics of the room I was in meant that the white noise was going to sound a bit harsher than I felt it should be.
Feel free to experiment with your own Whisperings of the Pacific or your Aramoho Rain white noise CD. There isn't really any wrong thing you can do. The "name of the game" is, it should sound natural - and soothing - in the specific room where you have it playing. Therefore you use your audio tone controls or graphic equaliser to compensate for anything perhaps not quite right about that room's acoustics. Aim for pleasant, not too loud sound. Your choice is the right choice, for you are human, and know what you like.
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NOTES, UPDATES & GENERAL INFO FOLLOWS
Stan Hood's Whisperings of the Pacific, and Aramoho Rain white noise CDs contain only white noise sound recorded from Mother Nature. There is approximately one hour of White Noise on the CD.
There is NO SPEECH and NO MUSIC on the white noise CDs. The sound is exactly as recorded from nature, nothing added, nothing taken away.
There is NO SPEECH and NO MUSIC on the white noise CDs. The sound is exactly as recorded from nature, nothing added, nothing taken away.
White Noise CDs for New Zealand delivery are shipped by Standard NZ Post. The mp3s for the world (including New Zealand) are downloaded from a protected page on the website that only the buyer can access.
