Prior to the birth of my son I watched Dr. Karp’s video “The Happiest Baby On The Block” where he demonstrates the 5 S’s.  Swaddle, Side or Stomach position, Shush, Swing, and Suck.  I even practiced swaddling ahead of time with a teddy bear.  I felt as ready as possible to help calm my future baby and put him to sleep.  That night, after we were all tired of playing, taking photos, changing diapers, and taking all sorts of medical tests we were all ready for bed.  That wasn’t that hard. I quickly fell asleep on the couch.  However, as soon as I drifted off to sleep, he woke up crying and we would have to calm him down all over again.  This repeated a couple of times before I googled how to keep a newborn baby asleep.  That’s when I learned more about how babies are accustomed to lots of noises in the womb and how the silence of the real world is uncomfortable for them.  I immediately downloaded some white noise apps on the App Store and tried them out.  

While the baby seemed to enjoy the sounds, I didn’t really care for the white noise since it sounded too harsh for my ears.  After further searching I found an app with a hairdryer sound that I could tolerate. We used my iPad as a sound machine with the hairdryer app for a month or so.  Then, one week during a business trip while I was away from home I decided to build my own white noise app with sounds that both my baby and I could enjoy.  Thus, “Magic Baby Sleeper” was born.  I searched some royalty free sound websites, learned how to create sound loops, and couldn’t wait to try them out when I got home.  Unfortunately, there weren’t that many high quality free sounds and the one recording of Brown Noise that I liked, my wife did not like at all.  We were back to using the hairdryer app.  So I purchased a fancy microphone and started recording sounds around the house such as our air filter, fan, hair dryer, vacuum cleaner, the rain, the thunder and even a driving trip I took in the rain.  

Finally, we could now listen to sleep sounds that the whole family could enjoy.  Our favorite sound by far was that of air filter and for several more months he fell asleep to that. One of the extra features that I added to the app was the ability to immediately start playing the last sound played on launch.  This was important in reducing the amount of presses one made when dealing with a fussy baby.  It truly was magic when the app would start-up and our baby would calm down immediately.  Shortly after the iPhone 6s came out, I added support for 3D touch to Play/Pause from the home icon. Shortly after New Years, the start-up I was working for announced they ran out of funding and we were all laid off.  I decided to finish up development of “Magic Baby Sleeper” and publish it to the App Store for everyone to use.  Prior to publishing the app I renamed it to “White Noise and Deep Sleep Sounds” in order for it to appeal to a wider audience.  After finding the app very useful in helping me fall asleep in a hotel, I felt that it would be great for adults as much as for babies.  

Two of the more memorable moments after going live on the app store were when I made my first sale and getting my first review. The Apple TV, 4th Generation, recently came out with its own App Store and I decided to port the iOS app over to tvOS.  AppLovin was hosting an Apple TV app contest right around that time and I entered my new app into their ports category.  vacuum cleaner robot indiaI was very surprised when they emailed me to let me know I was a finalist and that they wanted me to present at their offices in San Francisco.  vax vacuum filter cleaningWhile I didn’t win the contest, the experience was very rewarding and the extra exposure led to an increase in sales.  vacuum gutter cleanersThis in turn helped motivate me to continue independent development.  

Since then I have listened to user feedback, refined the UI and added several new sounds such as Birds and Chimes (which has become a nap time favorite).  In addition, I launched the “Deep Sleep Fan” app with the unique ability to control oscillation and fade out. Both of the Deep Sleep apps feature zero ads and are free to try. Download White Noise and Deep Sleep Sounds on the App Store. Download Deep Sleep Fan on the App Store.Fancy keeping up to date with all the latest gadgets and tech? Why don't you sign up to our monthly newsletter? Access to exclusive content Big discounts on Imagine products Are you also intrested in...A few weeks ago we wrote a post about hearing in our babies' senses series. For today’s post we are going to answer a reader question about white noise. Here is the comment we received: “Do you know very much about the effects of white noise on babies? I've heard that it can slow down their hearing development?

There are so many devices [white noise machines] sold though, and not much mentioned. We've been using it in our room with our 4 month old for at least 2 months now and just read that. I tried to do some research, and only found one study on some mice in the 90's.” After reviewing the literature, we also could not find studies showing that white noise is harmful for human infants. The one study we did see was very small and tested the effects of continuous (24 hours per day from day 7 of life) white noise on rat pups (baby rats). Continuous exposure to white noise (70 decibels) was found to cause delayed development of the auditory cortex, an important structure in processing speech sounds. However, it’s important to note that the results of this study cannot be inferred to human infants exposed to white noise during a particular time of day. Not only do human infants develop differently than rat pups, but this study only looked at non-stop exposure to white noise, not short term exposure during naptime or nighttime sleep.

Common sense tells us that babies need to hear more than white noise. Some low-level white noise is safe for babies as long as it is not continuous and they are exposed to lots of different sounds throughout the day, especially human voices. Talking and reading to your baby every day is a great way to ensure proper development of your baby’s hearing. Safe Hearing for Infants Decibels (dB) are the measurement of the loudness of sounds. How loud the noise is plus the length of exposure to the sound determines the amount of damage to your hearing. The American Academy of Pediatrics and the National Campaign for Hearing Health states 85 dB is the threshold for dangerous levels of noise. Sounds less than this are unlikely to cause hearing loss. However, it’s also important to think about the cumulative exposure to noise over the course of a day. To give you an idea of what 85 decibels sounds like, here are a few everyday sounds and their decibel levels: Normal conversation: 60 dB

Vacuum cleaner: 70 dB Noisy toys: 90 dB (you can look for a noise rating on the package when you buy the toy or call the manufacturer to request this information) What about White Noise Machines? Most of the white noise machines I came across online operated at a safe level of about 60 dB. However, we recommend checking the decibel level before buying one to be sure that it is indeed at a safe level. If you can’t find this information online, call the product manufacturer. Benefits of White Noise for Parents In a past post about helping parents of infants get a little more sleep, we shared results of a study suggesting that white noise can be beneficial for parents as well. Healthy sleeping newborns can be pretty noisy because they move and make noises while they sleep. Since it’s best for babies to sleep in the same room as their parents, playing some low-level white noise can help you sleep through the wiggles and soft squeals your baby makes. By keeping the white noise low-level, you will still be able to hear your baby if she needs your help.