THE FUSE

Up to half of American adults flip on ambient noise to fall asleep at night. That love of soothing bedtime noise has spawned machines and apps that deliver specific sounds and frequencies like nature sounds, white noise, pink noise, and brown noise to help people really dial into an ambiance that feels the most relaxing at bedtime. But new research finds that pink noise can actually make sleep quality worse—and it has implications for fans of all soothing sleep sounds.