The increasing recognition of acoustic comfort in indoor environment highlights the need for a deeper understanding of the impact of coloured noise as background sound. Coloured noise refers to different types of sound with distinct spectrograms and varying intensities. This study investigated the effects of coloured noise (represented by white, pink and brown noise) on brainwave activity in the temporal lobes, essential for auditory recognition, during rest and reading tasks. Twenty-nine participants were assessed in a controlled environment under quiet conditions and the three noise types. During rest, brainwave activity remained stable across noise conditions, except for a significant decrease in beta frequency at the T8 electrode when exposed to white noise, suggesting its potential to enhance relaxation. In reading tasks, pink noise produced significant changes in beta frequency at the T8 electrode, indicating a relaxation or reduced in effortful cognitive processing. In contrast, brown noise exhibited minimal effects on brainwave activity in both scenarios. Gender differences were observed, with female participants showing greater sensitivity to pink noise during reading tasks. These findings highlight the potential of white noise (a consistent hissing sound) for relaxation and pink noise (resembling steady rainfall) for enhancing cognitive performance and learning in indoor environments.
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