Article Directory

"White" is an interesting concept. Excluding traditional factors, the simple shade of white encompasses a lot of different meanings. The art teacher your child will learn from is expected to readily educate the enthusiastic student that white reflects the presence of all the wavelengths of light, or is plain and simply the mixture of all the hues. A few years later, in a high school physics class, that same child will be educated that white light refers to all the colors of light, blended within the visible light spectrum. In all, the term "white" is the result of the combined elements of all the parts of the spectrum, including that of light and wavelengths.

"White" Noise

The same thing can be said about "white" noise. Often people hear the term "noise" and associate it with a pesky, irritating sound they'd rather not think about. Interestingly, businesses, medical facilities, and even the military use white noise to combat those pesky, irritating noises and even to provide greater speech privacy. You see, in the same manner as white light reflects all types of visible light, white noise is a combination of random signals. The sound which comes from all the corners of the spectrum is utilized in order for the brain to get rid of unnecessary noises, particularly disruptions from verbal communication in such a way as you really cannot distinguish particular oral communication and sound. This is not noise cancellation, rather it is more ideally called masking - speech and sounds are present but are not understandable.

This lack of intelligibility is known as "speech privacy" and is an indispensable tool for individuals who have concern about confidentiality. For them, white noise is utilized in the same manner as that of speech privacy in such a way that the brain is forced to brush aside sensitive conversations because it can't process nor understand them. Just like before, nothing is canceled. Instead, the speech is only unintelligible, thereby protecting it against those people who shouldn't be hearing such sensitive conversations.