What Color is Noise?

Remember the scene from Poltergeist (the first one) where the little girl is sitting in front of the TV set with only static? Many claim that is "white " noise. Truth is, most people have little knowledge about what color noise is. The sound and color depends on where it falls on the audio spectrum of high\low frequencies.

White noise is hiss because it contains random sounds across all frequencies. So, is is associated with static as seen on a TV screen with no signal. It is the most effective noise at blocking out other sounds.

Pink noise blends with some hi\lo frequencies so it sounds like a hiss with a low rumble.

Brown noise is rumbling.

Knowing the color of the noise helps engineers work on applications for cell phones and other machines that use sound to distinguish signals.