A good night’s rest is essential if you want to keep up a healthy lifestyle, but it isn’t always easy to come by, especially if you’re a light sleeper who wakes up with even the faintest of sounds. When I was living in an apartment with thin walls, I was constantly surrounded by noise. Between babies wailing, car engines and dogs that wouldn’t stop barking, it definitely wasn’t what I’d call quiet. Peace and quiet were hard to come by, and not being able to rest properly was also leading to frustration and exhaustion during the day. This is more common than you think, as according to a recent survey by CNET, 46% of US adults are ready to spend up to $1,000 to improve their sleep quality. To help myself, I bought a portable white noise machine.
Read more: 4 Best Noise Colors to Boost Your Sleep Quality
If these devices could help me — someone who wakes at the slightest sound — drift off to dreamland, they’re definitely worth considering if you want a restful night. If you struggle to fall asleep or simply want to improve your sleep quality, white noise machines can help by masking environmental disturbances and background sounds, replacing them with soothing white noise. Plus, these machines can also make an excellent gift for your fellow insomniacs. These are the best options we’ve found on the market.
The best white noise machine
We tested the best white noise machines on the market and narrowed our top pick to the Homedics Sound Spa. We chose this as the best overall white noise machine because of its unique features and affordability. The best white noise machine for you is the one that checks all the boxes for your specific needs.
A favorite on Amazon, the Homedics Sound Spa strikes the perfect balance of quality and budget, so it’s a good value. This white noise machine has a timer you can set for 15, 30 or 60 minutes and plays six calming nature sounds and sleep sounds. Select from the soothing sound options of white noise, brook, thunder, summer night, ocean and rain. You can also plug the Sound Spa into a wall outlet or use batteries to take it on your travels. That brings me to one of the best features, which is that it’s incredibly portable. This white noise sound machine is lightweight and thin, so you can slip it into a carry-on or personal item with no problem.
What I love: The Homedics Sound Spa is inexpensive, easy to use and portable. It produces high-quality sound for the price (although the rain setting has an obvious loop), and it has enough sound settings for the average person.
What I don’t love: When the Sound Spa is turned on, there’s a little green light on top of the machine. I’m pretty sensitive to light when falling asleep and while sleeping (I’m a very light sleeper), so this green light felt very bright and unnecessary to me. If you want pitch-black darkness, the Homedics Sound Spa is probably not the right choice for you, or you can try covering up the light.
Unlike many models, the LectroFan doesn’t have sounds of birds chirping, ocean waves, water falling or other nature sounds, and I think that’s a good thing. It means that people who buy a white noise machine for white noise are getting exactly what they want. The LectroFan has 20 total sounds: 10 white noise sounds and 10 fan sounds. It only has three buttons on the front: power, volume control and sound selection. The adjustable volume control is pretty sensitive, and I’ve never had a problem finding just the right volume to mask outside sounds on any given night. I’ve used the LectroFan on and off for about six months, both at home and while traveling.
What I love: I adore the simplicity of the LectroFan. Its small size and portability add to that. This is the perfect white noise machine for people who don’t need many sound options but do need to bring their white noise machine when they travel.
What I don’t love: There’s not anything to dislike about the LectroFan, unless you’re looking for something with nature sounds. If that’s the case, definitely look elsewhere.
If you want a white noise machine that’s much more than just a white noise machine, the Sound Plus Sleep SE from Sound of Sleep is the one you need. It may cost more than most people would want to spend on a white noise machine, but you get your money’s worth. I’ve been using it for more than six months, and not only does it put me to sleep (and keep me asleep), but it also helps me focus while working from home and drown out distracting sounds.
What I love: The sheer range of sounds you get with this white noise machine. I use the pink noise setting to fall asleep and the meditation or rainfall settings to focus while I’m working. I also love the acute volume control and sleek design. It doesn’t look out of place on my nightstand or my desk.
What I don’t love: There’s nothing I dislike about the Sound+Sleep SE. It’s expensive for a sound machine, but it’s well worth the price if you have trouble falling asleep at night. You can’t put a price tag on feeling well-rested.
CNET’s Vanessa Hand Orellana tested this noise machine, and I’ll share her comments here: The Hatch Baby Rest (or Hatch Rest 2nd Gen) is a sound machine, night light and alarm in one. As a sound machine and night light, it’s pretty straightforward. You can turn the sound and light on from the device itself, change the type of sound or color of the light and raise or lower the volume and brightness. You’ll have to pair it with the app to do anything more complicated than that. If you have the Rest Plus, the app also serves as a baby monitor (audio only) to let you either listen in or talk to your baby. It’ll still play the sound even when your phone screen is in standby mode.
What I love: There are similar products out there that offer similar features for less. The Rest retails for $55 while the Rest Plus (which also has a digital clock and baby monitor) is $90, but what drew me to use the Rest was the level of customization in the app and the sleek design. It didn’t clash with my baby’s nursery, the one room in the house that I put a lot of creative effort into. It looks like a little candle and doesn’t take up much space on your bookshelf or countertop.
What I don’t love: You will need access to an outlet to plug it in, although the Rest Plus can actually hold a charge if you want to move it somewhere else during naptime.
The Hatch Restore 2 is a great multifunctional white noise machine that also serves as a sunrise alarm clock (something you should consider if you hate waking up to abrupt and invasive alarm sounds).
What I loved most about the Hatch Restore is its ease of use: With the Hatch Sleep app, you can set up an entire bedtime routine with multiple alarms to have separate ones for weekdays and weekends. You can also adjust volume, light intensity and sounds. For example, here’s what I set up on my Hatch Restore:
- A bedtime routine that starts with 20 minutes of reading. The Hatch Restore softly illuminates my room with peach-colored light.
- A 10-minute wind-down guided meditation. You can choose from several in the Hatch app, plus more with a premium subscription.
- Pink noise that continues until my alarm goes off.
- A 30-minute sunrise alarm that culminates in the Mountain Alps sound: I wake to what sounds like an early winter morning.
What I love: You set all of this up in the app, but you don’t need your phone nearby to start your bedtime routine: You can simply tap the button on top of the Hatch Restore to get things going. Without a premium subscription, you have access to more than 20 hues of light and 31 sleep and wake sounds.
What I don’t love: If you’d like to explore more hues and sounds, you have to subscribe and unlock additional content for $5 a month or $50 a year.
Honeywell makes trustworthy, high-quality products, and the Dreamweaver Sleep Fan is no different. This small bedside fan doubles as a sound machine, but it doesn’t actually use white noise. It uses pink noise, a softer type of ambient noise that’s been shown to increase time spent in deep sleep and improve memory. When I was living in a busy apartment complex, this fan-and-pink-noise combo helped drown out the sounds of cars and passers-by.
What I love: There’s a little night light on top of the unit that has three levels; if you like to sleep in pitch-black darkness, tap it three times to turn it off completely. If you like a little bit of light, the Dreamweaver can be your white noise machine, night light and fan all in one.
What I don’t love: It seems like the fan collects dust pretty easily, but that’s what fans do. It’s nothing a quick wipe-down can’t fix.
How we tested the best white noise machines
To determine our roundup of best white noise machines, we considered factors like functionality, special features, range of noises and price. These selections are based on personal preference, and you should consult your doctor before buying a white noise machine to ensure you get the best one for your needs.
Other white noise machines
These two white noise machines aren’t my top choices, but they still offer value and might be right for you.
YogaSleep Dohm Classic
Dohm proclaims itself the first company to manufacture white noise machines, and the Dohm Classic is the original sound machine for sleep. The Dohm Classic is super simple, much like the LectroFan: It only produces white noise, and the controls are on, off, high and low. Once you choose high or low, rotate the cap to adjust the sound to the perfect level for you.
If you’re really looking for simplicity, the Dohm Classic embodies it. To me, this white noise machine feels a little limited for the price, and the sound quality isn’t as great as some of the others on this list. It comes from a reputable brand and has nearly 4,000 positive reviews on Amazon, so it’s worth looking into if you want a trustworthy product in the middle of what seems to be the price range (about $15 to $90) for white noise machines.
Snooz White Noise Sound Machine
The Snooz White Noise Sound Machine is a good choice for people who want an authentic fan sound. Most white noise machines come with a fan sound, but if you’re used to falling asleep with a fan, you can tell the difference.
That’s where the Snooz comes in: This sleep machine is a simple acoustic enclosure with a mechanical fan on the inside. This means the sound doesn’t loop, so that’s a bonus. By rotating the body of the machine, you can alter the pitch of the fan sound to find one that best drowns out the sounds keeping you awake.
I would probably just prefer to sleep with a fan because I sleep warm anyway. It’s kind of pricey for a white noise machine with such limited sound options, but the Snooz could work well for people who like fan sounds but don’t want cold air.
A white noise machine is a device that emits a constant frequency of sound to help make ambiance or environmental noise. Many people use them to help them fall asleep.
The use of white noise machines is generally considered to be safe. People with tinnitus can experience a worsening of symptoms with prolonged use of a white noise machine.
Our top pick for best white noise machine is the Homedics Sound Spa. It’s an affordable device with plenty of sounds to choose from.
You can keep white noise on all night; however, it is not necessary. If you are playing white noise for a baby, you can turn it off when they are asleep.
The best noises for sleep include white, brown and pink. The best noise for sleep is different for each person; find the one that works best for you.
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