Overview
- The peer-reviewed Sleep study monitored 25 healthy adults over seven consecutive lab nights under quiet, aircraft noise, pink noise, combined-noise, and aircraft-with-earplugs conditions.
- Pink noise alone was linked to about 19 fewer minutes of REM sleep per night compared with noise-free control nights.
- Intermittent aircraft noise reduced deep N3 sleep by roughly 23 minutes, a drop largely prevented when participants wore earplugs.
- Combining pink and aircraft noise shortened both REM and deep sleep and increased time awake by about 15 minutes.
- Researchers urged caution for newborns and toddlers and called for larger, longer-term studies as millions rely on broadband sleep sounds.