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White Noise ambient sound has changed, is there a way to change it back?

BG2989
Community Member

Been using the white noise ambient sound to help sleep and noticed last night the sound had been changed. Sounds like a new file and it's not only quieter the audio loop is a lot shorter, with a sudden drop off after about 30 minutes before it loops again (the previous one was about an hour long and started again much faster). Is there a way to restore to the older sound file?

1 Recommended Answer

KiiFromGoogle
Community Manager (Admin)
Community Manager (Admin)

Hi everyone, 

Thanks for your feedback here! There was an issue impacting our white noise experience. It’s fixed now and working as it previously did. 

Hopefully that answers your questions, but let me know if you need any more help. Thanks! 

View Recommended Answer in original post

206 REPLIES 206

Orchards
Community Member

This has been driving me bonkers! I really hope Google reverts back to the old white noise sound, as this new sound hasn't been faring well with my baby, as we also use our Google home as a sound machine. I thought the speaker blew..

 

Please Google, revert back!!

ShadowVlican
Community Member

Baffles me why Google continues to make decisions like this.

jsaldivar26
Community Member

Yes my son has been using this to fall asleep for two years and now it sounds completely different. They need to change it back.

Mishmish25
Community Member

Yes I noticed it too and I thought the volume was low but I tried turning it up and it just sounds weird and muffled. I can barely hear it and it’s irritating me because I’ve been using the old white noise file for a while now so this is disappointing I have to now play white noise using my phone instead. So I really hope they bring the old white noise sound back.

Doctor_Batman
Community Member

I've been using this noise to sleep for almost 2 years and now it doesn't work.

1. It is too quiet but if you up the volume the Google assistant screams at you.

2. It doesn't sound good and does not block out sound.

3. It turns off after like 30 minutes and not 12 hrs like before 

 

Why would you fix something that is not broken.

Horrible horrible service.

I already have decided never to buy another Google home device but now I am thinking about junking them all and just switching to a different service.

 

nletterly
Community Member

Use this to help my kids sleep. Please change it back.

coy989
Community Member

 Please bring back the old white noise. My whole family uses it and I hate how short and quiet the updated one is! 

DrWho
Community Member

I also hope they change their mind and revert back to the original, pls 🙏

andywakeup
Community Member

Between the volume control limitations from the Sonos fiasco and now this, what is happening with Google these days? Who asked for this update? Such an unnecessary and dumb decision to make.

AngusMacPhee
Community Member

Hey Google. Maybe you want to listen to your users already! Change the white noise back!

Totoro
Community Member

Same here, I have been telling Google “hey Google report a problem, sound of white noise is muffled, please return it to the original white noise sound quality and volume .” I have been doing this every single night, hope it helps. Just keep complaining and they will fix it! 

ldrrp
Community Member

Wonder if i can make this a routine in the app lol

Ultimastro
Community Member

I looked at the different white noise options and found that if you tell it to “play River sounds” it’s almost the same as the old white noise.

I totally used this last night it work pretty well

 

 

krispucci
Community Member

Just stop changing things for the sake of change. Sometimes things are good enough the way they are. 

Papanoidy
Community Member

Yea my nor my kid likes the new sound I have to turn the speaker all the way up. It's terrible why did they change it.

abhaybhaskar
Community Member

What's wrong with the user testing part or is it non existent? Who authorized this update without the consent of the user? 

Cebm
Community Member

I'm also really unhappy with it stopping after like 30 or 45 minutes. Can't believe they made this change without even notifying users. Hell, Google, your help page on the topic still says "it plays for 12 hours unless you tell it stop." That was a huge selling point!! Please revert this awful change. 

Chelseanick
Community Member

Same for us! We have the Google homes in every bedroom for white noise at night. Every. Room. I do like how the loop doesn’t turn the volume down as much but it does it so much more frequently and it’s waking my family up. Has anyone figure out how to go back to the old way?

Layseca86
Community Member

We use it for our twins. Used to play it for 15 hours and now it shuts off at 12, sounds different and it sucks! If it ain't broken, don't fix it! Give us back the old white noise, Google! 😭

jerendeb
Community Member

Stop taking features away that users use as a productive tools.

COMMUNICATE!

ATG22
Community Member

The ability to set the length of time has also changed. I tell Google "play rain sounds for 14 hours" every day but now it stops after 12 h

dillop
Community Member

I've also had this exact same problem - used to set it to run for longer than 12 as otherwise it'd stop and wake my daughter up in the morning before she'd woken! It's infuriating, have been dealing with a very frustrated baby for days now, this for me is even more of an issue than the change in noise!

Shesquared
Community Member

They changed the sound of white noise to that of pink noise…

 

Pink noise is white noise, but with reduced higher frequencies. It resembles the sounds of steady rainfall or wind and is often considered to be more soothing than white noise.

 

Brown noise lowers the higher frequencies even more.  It’s a bit “rougher” than pink noise and resembles the roar of a river current or strong wind.

ericle7
Community Member

Bon22
Community Member

Just turned the white noise on and the old sound is back? Just as I was getting used to the new one lol

HeyOK
Community Member

I can confirm, they switched it back! Maybe we should have been contacting the press all along. That's what did the trick it seems. I saw a number of stories across the tech sites today.

urlybird
Community Member

The whole Nest product line is totally screwed up

 The new Nest Cameras are the worst. Saved videos have no date/time stamp with them.

 

KiiFromGoogle
Community Manager (Admin)
Community Manager (Admin)

Hi everyone, 

Thanks for your feedback here! There was an issue impacting our white noise experience. It’s fixed now and working as it previously did. 

Hopefully that answers your questions, but let me know if you need any more help. Thanks! 

Thank you for taking the feedback and providing the solution in a relatively short amount of time!

Will Google be reverting the lullaby songs too? They no long play the vocals in the beginning anymore and the quality isn't good like before. 

I'll correct it for you.

 

Sorry we changed the audio, we've taken user feedback onboard and reverted back to the original audio file.

It went back to the normal sound briefly for about an hour for me ans then when I had to stop and restart it went back to the muffled file. When I speak to Google it sounds normal with the voice. Othe ambiance noises sound normal. Why is this still happening? I rely on this sound to sleep peacefully with ringing in my ears all the time. Please help!

I don't know about a fix but, if you ask for "river sounds" instead of "white noise", the sound more closely matches the old white noise sound we all miss. 

MNB26
Community Member

Agreed! I checked to see if the old sound was back this morning and prefer  the River sound now!

I just want the one that doesn’t fade to complete silence for what feels like forever before quickly ramping back to full volume, thus waking the baby! 

"working as it previously did" is incorrect for most of the people affected.

The shorter loop is causing sleep disturbances for many. 

My devices were not work and I needed to factory reset. And now the white noise issue has returned..

MastrJay
Community Member

ahiw are you playing white noise?... through spotify?

You can download the file through this link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iqUdzp2fNZq_A0zrbeI1dUFVOgQegNt9 

You can put it on your phone and bluetooth connect to your google home to play it.