The term white noise

White noise

White noise is a random signal with a flat power spectral density. In other words, the signal contains equal power within a fixed bandwidth at any center frequency...

, the 'sh' noise produced by a signal containing all audible frequencies of vibration, is sometimes used as slang

Slang

Slang is the use of informal words and expressions that are not considered standard in the speaker's language or dialect but are considered more acceptable when used socially. Slang is often to be found in areas of the lexicon that refer to things considered taboo...

 (or a neologism) to describe a meaningless commotion or chatter that masks or obliterates underlying information.

The information itself may have characteristics that achieve this effect without the need to introducing a masking layer. A common example of this usage is a politician including more information than needed to mask a point he doesn't want noticed.

In music

Music

Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...

 the term is used for music that is discordant with no melody

Melody

A melody , also tune, voice, or line, is a linear succession of musical tones which is perceived as a single entity...

; disagreeable, harsh or dissonant.

"White noise" in the media

On the January 11 2005 broadcast of ABC's Good Morning America

Good Morning America

Good Morning America is an American morning news and talk show that is broadcast on the ABC television network; it debuted on November 3, 1975. The weekday program airs for two hours; a third hour aired between 2007 and 2008 exclusively on ABC News Now...

, Claire Shipman

Claire Shipman

Claire Shipman is an American television journalist, currently the senior national correspondent for the ABC program, Good Morning America. She also blogs at the website True/Slant. She is married to Jay Carney, President Barack Obama's White House Press Secretary.- Career :Shipman's broadcast...

 claimed "the political rhetoric

Rhetoric

Rhetoric is the art of discourse, an art that aims to improve the facility of speakers or writers who attempt to inform, persuade, or motivate particular audiences in specific situations. As a subject of formal study and a productive civic practice, rhetoric has played a central role in the Western...

 on Social Security

Social Security (United States)

In the United States, Social Security refers to the federal Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program.The original Social Security Act and the current version of the Act, as amended encompass several social welfare and social insurance programs...

 is white noise" to most Americans.

The novel White Noise

White Noise (novel)

White Noise, the eighth novel by Don DeLillo, is an example of postmodern literature. Widely considered his "breakout" work, the book won the National Book Award in 1985 and brought him to the attention of a much larger audience. Time included the novel in its TIME 100 Best English-language Novels...

by Don DeLillo

Don DeLillo

Don DeLillo is an American author, playwright, and occasional essayist whose work paints a detailed portrait of American life in the late 20th and early 21st centuries...

explores several themes that emerged during the mid-to-late twentieth century. The title is a metaphor pointing to the confluence of all the symptoms of postmodern culture that in their coming-together make it very difficult for an individual to actualize his or her ideas and personality.