What color is noise? Let\’s prick up our ears, and figure it out.

White noise is probably the first thing that come to mind. Some people use white noise machines in their bedrooms. Not I! Conventional white noise is too high-frequency for me; and it drives me crazy.

Anyone who has to ride alongside motor traffic knows about that kind of noise. I\’m glad don\’t have a long commute with VW Beetles; and large trucks; and everything in between, roaring past. I\’d need to wear earplugs! The trouble with that is, earplugs can block too much sound; and that\’s not such a good thing.

When riding with motor traffic, what color is the noise? Different vehicles make different sounds. I guess you can say that emergency vehicles sound red, especially when that siren is screaming!

When you can escape the cacaphony of the city, and ride in the countryside, you can enjoy what you hear. I like hearing the birds. Maybe I should call it \”blue noise\”? Is the rustling of breeze in the leaves \”green noise\”?

How about blasting along a mucky cyclocross course? What color is that? Brown noise, perhaps? Or even black noise? It depends on what color the mud is; some areas have orangish (so-called red) dirt. Parts of Alabama, for example.

We cyclists always have to contend with wind noise. It can be the roar of a stiff headwind; or it can be the whoosh of our own forward motion. The latter is a nice, cheerful color — bright, sunshine yellow, maybe. The former I would call a gloomy gray. Whatever the color, if wind noise bothers you, there are \”cat ears\” to help reduce the sound.

Sound, in fact, has the full color spectrum of a rainbow!