There are quite a few alarm clocks that have white noise now too. They tend to be a little more expensive than those that don't, but if it helps someone sleep then it's well worth it.

I have one of these because of a dog that a next-door neighbor of mine use to have (I live in a townhouse/rowhouse). He was a house dog converted to a yard dog and never got use to it. The white noise machine TOTALLY solved the problem. It's best to set it up between you and the noise you're trying to block out, and have it ear level. It doesn't have to be real close to you, just ear level in height. The one I have was about $20 bucks and has about 5 different types of noise (including fan!). I kept it on rain most of the time. It had a timer on it also, if you wanted the noise to cut off at a certain point. I still sometimes cut it on because now there is road construction just beyond my backyard.

Wish I had known about it when I was living in an apartment!

hey pdg77!

What model/brand is that white noise machine? One with a fan sound would be perfect! I use my fan to block outside noise, but in winter it is impractical & it seems that without foliage ...outside noises tend to be amplified.

I just had a thought...... to make my own white noise machine with my ipod & ipod radio dock...... by recording an hour of "fan noise" in a quiet room & then playing it on the ipod/radio dock all night in repeat mode.

nctrnl:

It is a "homedics" I believe (I'm not at home right now). I'll have to look at it tonite to be sure. I tried to do what you did (record the fan to make my own white hoise) but it didn't work for me. It was more irritating than soothing.

Anyway, I always use the "rain" setting because to me it seems to be the loudest. It also has ocean, heartbeat (for babies), and I forget the 5th sound.

The sleep machine is a Homedics, model 2205. It actually has six sounds: rain, rain forest, summer night, ocean, waterfall, and heartbeat. It has a volume button, and it has a pre-selected timer, where you can have the sound continue for 20, 30 or 60 minutes and then cut off; or it can just play continuously.

Also, it runs by batteries so you won't lose sleep even if you lose power!

I use my computer as a sound machine and also have an old marsona 1200 that my father gave to me years ago and bought back in the early 80's.. I've got buzzing in my ears so I've become used to always having white noise at night.

These old models aren't just looped recordings they are pure noise.. the newer units would end up bothering me if I could tell when they started repeating.

I purchased mine in 2005 and if there is "looping", I haven't noticed it. One thing, though: my neighbor now has a MUCH LARGER, MUCH LOUDER dog. Even with 2 noise machines on, I can hear the dog over the machines at first. However, after a few minutes, the barking tends to blend in with the noise, and I can usually fall asleep pretty quickly. After I'm sleep, the barking no longer wakes me up.