Technically speaking, white noise is defined as having a constant power spectral density independent of frequency. Broken down by octave bands, white noise will appear to exhibit a 3 dB increase in each successively higher octave band.

Pink noise is defined as having the same power within each octave. Thus, an analysis of pink noise in discreet bands of constant width will show a decrease in level with increasing frequency. Subjectively, both white noise and pink noise may sound somewhat like television static with white noise sounding more “hissy.”