`Sound of rain` app helping people fall asleep, concentrate

A company worker listens to the sound of rain on a smartphone app at home and work. The 28-year-old man says the sound makes him calm and helps him concentrate on work.

“I used to suffer from insomnia due to stress from work after I got a job, but now the sound of rain helps me sleep,” he said.

The mother of a year-old child uses the sound of rain on her smartphone to make him stop crying, saying, “When I turn on the app, he easily falls asleep without being peevish.”

The sound of rain is quite popular among students, workers and housewives. People have always loved the sound but listen to it more often after the sound of rain became available on high-tech devices. The sound of rain is one of the most popular apps because it helps people sleep or focus on what they are doing.

The sound of rain has both a wide spectrum and density of sound. A sound is either color noise, which maintains a certain level of sound, or white noise, which has a wide spectrum of sound. The sound of rain is white noise. Waves and waterfalls make white noise but the sound of rain makes people feel more comfortable because they can hear it often in urban areas.

White noise is also called "meaningless sound" because it lacks a distinct sound like a color sound, and this allows people to hear it without paying attention to it. Thus, the meaningless sound of rain is comforting and blocks other color sounds around them.

The sound of rain makes people fall asleep more easily as it handles acoustic stillness and blocks noise around them.

One expert said, “People feel comfort through the sound of nature such as wind and water. The sound of rain can be heard in urban areas as well as rural areas,” adding, “The popularity of the sound means that many people miss nature though they live in urban regions.”

dong@donga.com