Best Noise Machines for Sleep, by How They Make the Sound

What separates one sound machine from another is how the sound is made: a real fan, noise generated electronically so that it never repeats, or recordings that have to loop. Add whether it has a timer, runs on a battery or wants an app, and that is nearly everything there is to compare.

One steady fan sound and nothing to set up points to the Dohm Classic, in North America only. Elsewhere, or on a schedule, get the Snooz Original. A choice of sounds that do not loop means the LectroFan EVO, or the Dreamegg Classic D1 if the EVO’s price or stock is a problem. The Dohm Classic, the Snooz Original and the LectroFan EVO carry no lullabies or night lights, which is what separates them from nursery machines, so choose between them by voltage and by whether you want one sound or many.

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Do sound machines help you sleep?

That is a medical question, and product pages cannot settle it, so we make no claim about what one will do for your sleep. What a sound machine does is fill the room with a steady sound, which its makers describe as masking other noises. The practical test is the return window: Snooz gives 100 nights, Dreamegg 60 days, and Hatch and Yogasleep 30.

Fan machines: moving air, no track to repeat

A fan machine has a real motor-driven fan inside an adjustable case. Yogasleep says the Dohm makes its sound from moving air with no digital audio, and Snooz says the same of its machine. You get one kind of sound, and you adjust its tone and loudness.

The Yogasleep Dohm Classic, about $50, has two speeds. You twist the cap to change the volume and the collar to change the tone. There is no app, no screen and nothing to charge, and Yogasleep lists no timer for it. The company says each one is assembled in the USA.

It runs on 120-volt mains only. Yogasleep says it is designed for the United States and Canada and is not compatible with other countries’ voltage, so it is no use in India, Nigeria or Britain. For a timer and a night light on a fan machine, Yogasleep’s Dohm Nova is about $65. The Dohm Connect, at about $80, adds control from a phone. Yogasleep Dohm Classic on Amazon

The Snooz Original, about $100, has ten volume levels and a shell you rotate to change the tone. It works from its own buttons. The Snooz app is free and optional, adds a daily on-and-off schedule that fades in and out, and Snooz says there is no subscription. The power supply accepts 100 to 240 volts, though the plug is the US type, so elsewhere it needs a travel adapter for the local socket.

That is twice the Dohm Classic’s price. The extra $50 buys finer volume control, the schedule and the wider voltage range. The Snooz Pro, at about $120, adds a night light and a travel case. Snooz Original on Amazon

Generated noise that does not loop

A generated machine has a speaker and no moving parts. The LectroFan EVO, about $66, has 22 sounds: ten fans, ten variations of white, pink and brown noise, and two of ocean surf. Its maker, Adaptive Sound Technologies, says the machine generates them and that they do not loop. The timer adds an hour with each press, up to eight. There is an audio jack for headphones or a pillow speaker.

It runs from a mains adapter, and the maker says a plug adapter or a local USB adapter makes it usable abroad. One caution: the EVO showed as sold out on the maker’s own store, at $65.95, so you may have to buy from a retailer. The older LectroFan Classic, with 20 sounds and no ocean, was out of stock there too. LectroFan EVO on Amazon

The Dreamegg Classic D1, about $40, has more sounds than the LectroFan for $26 less. Dreamegg describes 24 white noise, fan and nature sounds and calls them non-looping, with a timer that runs from 15 to 90 minutes and a night light. Its page is thin on the rest. It does not explain how the sounds are produced, and it does not state the power supply. Dreamegg Classic D1 on Amazon

Recorded sounds that loop

A recorded machine plays sound files. A loop is not a fault in itself. The makers of fan and generated machines sell against it, though, so know which kind you are buying.

The Homedics SoundSpa, about $25, is the cheapest machine here and the only one that runs on either mains or ordinary batteries. Homedics calls its six sounds digitally recorded: white noise, thunder, ocean, rain, summer night and brook. The timer switches it off after 15, 30 or 60 minutes. The adapter is in the box and the four AA batteries are not. Homedics SoundSpa on Amazon

The Pure Enrichment Wave, about $30, is a fair alternative if you want a USB port that charges a phone and do not need batteries. Pure Enrichment says it loops six sounds with no audible break, and the timer is the same 15, 30 or 60 minutes.

Letsfit’s store still shows two sound machines, both sold out, like everything else on it, and we could not find a maker’s website for Magicteam.

Hatch Restore 3: a bedside clock with a sound library

About $170 for a mains-powered bedside clock with a light, a sunrise alarm and a sound library. Hatch says you need its free Hatch Sleep app and 2.4 GHz Wi-Fi to set it up and register it, and that afterwards most of the controls are on the device.

A subscription is not required, by Hatch’s own account, and without one the Restore keeps its basic features and core content. Hatch’s help centre lists more than 40 sleep sounds in that free set, among them white, pink and brown noise, rain, ocean waves and fan sounds. The paid tier, Hatch+, adds a library of podcasts, meditations, audiobooks and sleep music. It costs $5.99 a month or $59.99 a year after a 30-day trial.

Do the sum before buying. Three years of Hatch+ on the annual plan is about $180, which brings the Restore to about $350. For white noise or rain alone, the free set covers it, and so does a $50 fan machine. Hatch’s store ships only to the United States and Canada, and Hatch says its devices do not work as Bluetooth speakers for your own audio. Hatch Restore 3 on Amazon

Battery machines for travel

Pack the Yogasleep Hushh 2, about $30. It has six sounds, a battery Yogasleep puts at up to 34 hours, a USB-C port, a dimmable night light and a lock for the buttons. Its timer runs for 30, 60 or 120 minutes. Yogasleep Hushh 2 on Amazon

The LectroFan Micro2+, about $45, has 11 sounds and a battery its maker puts at more than 20 hours, and it doubles as a Bluetooth speaker. The Hatch Go, about $40, has ten sounds and needs no app, Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Hatch sells it for babies.

Mains voltage outside North America

Check the voltage first. The Dohm Classic is 120 volts only. The Snooz and the Pure Enrichment Wave accept 100 to 240 volts, and the LectroFan can run from a local USB adapter. The battery machines charge by USB, so mains voltage does not matter to them. Hatch’s own store will not ship outside the United States and Canada.