White / pink / brown noise
People with ADHD who heard white noise during cognitive tasks performed better.
Moderate noise facilitates stimulus discrimination and cognitive performance (stochastic resonance). Computational modeling showed that more noise is required in ADHD for stochastic resonance to occur in dopamine-deficient neural systems. This prediction is supported by empirical data.12345
A meta-analysis found stable results showing a slight improvement in ADHD with white or pink noise.6
One study found the same improvement with a 100 HZ tone as with pink noise compared to silence, which calls into question the hypothesis of stochastic resonance.7
White noise (auditory and visual) did not improve oculomotor impulse control performance in children with persons with ADHD.8
Music significantly reduced attention errors, but showed no significant difference between people with ADHD and those without.9
Sikström, Söderlund (2007): Stimulus-dependent dopamine release in attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Psychol Rev. 2007 Oct;114(4):1047-75. doi: 10.1037/0033-295X.114.4.1047. PMID: 17907872. REVIEW ↥
Söderlund, Sikström, Smart (2007): Listen to the noise: noise is beneficial for cognitive performance in ADHD. J Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2007 Aug;48(8):840-7. doi: 10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01749.x. PMID: 17683456. ↥
Chen IC, Chan HY, Lin KC, Huang YT, Tsai PL, Huang YM. Listening to White Noise Improved Verbal Working Memory in Children with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: A Pilot Study. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Jun 14;19(12):7283. doi: 10.3390/ijerph19127283. PMID: 35742531; PMCID: PMC9223803. ↥
Lin HY (2022): The Effects of White Noise on Attentional Performance and On-Task Behaviors in Preschoolers with ADHD. Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2022 Nov 21;19(22):15391. doi: 10.3390/ijerph192215391. PMID: 36430109; PMCID: PMC9692615. ↥
Egeland J, Lund O, Kowalik-Gran I, Aarlien AK, Söderlund GBW (2023): Effects of auditory white noise stimulation on sustained attention and response time variability. Front Psychol. 2023 Dec 8;14:1301771. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1301771. PMID: 38144987; PMCID: PMC10748431. ↥
Nigg JT, Bruton A, Kozlowski MB, Johnstone JM, Karalunas SL (2024): Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis: Do White Noise and Pink Noise Help With Attention in Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder? J Am Acad Child Adolesc Psychiatry. 2024 Feb 23:S0890-8567(24)00074-1. doi: 10.1016/j.jaac.2023.12.014. PMID: 38428577. n = 335 ↥
Rijmen J, Wiersema JR (2024): Stochastic resonance is not required for pink noise to have beneficial effects on ADHD-related performance? The moderate brain arousal model challenged. Neuropsychologia. 2024 Sep 9;202:108961. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropsychologia.2024.108961. PMID: 39034029. ↥
Jostrup E, Claesdotter-Knutsson E, Tallberg P, Söderlund G, Gustafsson P, Nyström M (2024): No Effects of Auditory and Visual White Noise on Oculomotor Control in Children with ADHD. J Atten Disord. 2024 Nov;28(13):1668-1683. doi: 10.1177/10870547241273249. PMID: 39252445; PMCID: PMC11492543. ↥
Mendes CG, de Paula JJ, Miranda DM (2024): Effects of Background Music on Attentional Networks of Children With and Without Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder: Case Control Experimental Study. Interact J Med Res. 2024 Jul 18;13:e53869. doi: 10.2196/53869. PMID: 39024557; PMCID: PMC11294770. ↥