Although often attached to the concepts of pure and plain, "white" can never be considered as a simple idea, but rather a thought-provoking abstraction. Excluding traditional factors, the simple shade of white encompasses a lot of different meanings. During elementary years, a child will be taught that white mirrors the wave lengths of light, or to simply put it the combination of all colors. 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. Fundamentally, the term "white" pertains to the combined elements of various components of the spectrum, may they be in the form of light, wavelengths and the likes.

"White" Noise

The same is true for "white" noise. Usually, upon hearing the word "noise," most people typically dismiss it as something that is annoying enough to not deserve their attention. Interestingly, businesses, medical facilities, and even the military use white noise to combat those pesky, irritating noises and even to provide greater speech privacy. Apparently, similar as to how white light reflects all types of visible light, white noise is a combination of all kinds of sound frequency. 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. Canceling noise is not what it is, masking is the proper term - verbal communication and sounds are there, only they are not crystal clearly heard.

Such lack of intelligibility is more preferably referred to as "speech privacy," which is regarded as an essential tool for people to achieve confidentiality even while in a busy setting. For these individuals, the use of white noise is somewhat similar to speech privacy only for a different purpose: the brain is forced to disregard sensitive dialogue since it cannot fully understand such form of verbal communication. Just like before, nothing is canceled. Rather, the speech is left unrecognizable, securing its confidentiality.