The Sound of Silence

Maybe my comment will help other people that like me tried all sorts of environmental noises, white noise, mechanical noises, "sleep music" and various other "noises" without success. What makes me fall asleep is to hear people talking not in my native language. By listening to some talk shows or documentaries in English, I am able to relax and fall asleep.

When I was a child I was fascinated by listening to the radio at night. First with the simple type of just a crystal, grounding clip and earphone. Later I used many types of radio, earphone or low volume, depending on being with a partner or alone. Podcasts now offer an unlimited supply of sound and entertainment to lull me to sleep! I can certainly empathize with users of white noise.

Solution: stop using electronics and any light whatsoever at least an hour before bedtime. Also, an air purifier and blackout cutains solves the noise and light pollution.

I've used a white noise machine for 10 years. I suffered sexual abuse as a kid and am hyper vigilant in bed. For a long time I couldn't sleep with my wife in the same room. Now I use it everywhere I go, and strongly believe it played a major factor in my wife and I being able to share a bed and have a more intimate marriage, both physically and emotionally.

I am an avid birder. Moving to Central London several years ago posed a big sleep interruption-The British Robin, whose lovely little song begins particularly in the winter months around 3:30am! I purchased a Marla’s Dohm sound machine and it sits on the floor next to the bed, plugged into a timer. I love it! Masking those early morning shower sounds and banging doors while traveling, I use the Soundly Sleeping app on my iPad or iPhone.

I have been using a white noise machine for years. I always travel with it. It's compact enough to pack easily. It also has several frequencies of sound. I do find that at times the sound I'm trying to mask varies in frequency so this addition is a big help.

I suggest that you check out of Bose noise cancelling headphones. They are comfortable, and work well to dampen noise. You could use them along with your white noise apps. PS. I do not work for the Bose corporation.

A self-discovered sleep aid, requiring only some concentration for the 30 seconds before you fall asleep: slow your breathing, while regulating its amplitude (depth) to take the shape of a sine wave. You can google "sine wave" if you don't know what one looks like. In theory, it forces brain waves into harmonics of the same fundamental frequency and reduces anxiety. Getting drowsy, just practicing it right now.

White noise machines are effective, energy efficient, and harmless (assuming the volume isn't turned to 11). Seriously, try them out! Adults and kids can always benefit from more restful sleep.

Seeing both the Marfan and the Sound+Sleep Mini in your illustration pleased me. I wish I'd have bought the Marfan 30 years ago, it works so well. The S.S.M. is almost infinitely adjustable and the volume can be turned way up. They really work.

Just FYI to the author, “data” is a plural term. ;)

Have a few beers and get some rest.

To fall asleep, my husband and I use the Lectrofan white noise machine along with a regular box fan on low speed (he has tinnitus). But if I wake up at night, my mind starts buzzing and I have a hard time falling back asleep. What I have learned is to do the adult version of a lullaby - an Audible book. I have an old phone I kept and I listen to the very same Audible book every time so that there are no surprises and I know what will happen next. I use comfy ear buds (so I don't wake my husband) and put the phone on the lowest volume setting and do a 15-minute Audible timer. Nothing works better for me. When I travel, I do the same thing in hotels.

The piercing back-up beeps that are being installed on an increasingly number of trucks and vans. There are safer, less obstrusive options

Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, noise isn’t a problem for me because when I remove my hearing aids at night I can’t hear anything. My problem is I need total darkness, almost impossible without unplugging or turning off everything that emits light...clock, humidifier, router, power strip...

My condo on the Pacific Coast of Mexico provides its own white noise, the gentle (or not so gentle) sound of the surf 24/7. A little noisy and discordant for the first few fall days after my arrival, it soon settles into a beloved lullaby for the next six months. Mother Nature knows best.

My husband and I are addicted to our sound machine! No waterfalls or rain forests for us. We like the setting called “City.” Our sound machine has been a godsend.

I would like to believe that the upsurge in using white noise to lull you to sleep is due to the inability to stop all electronic usage at a reasonable hour. We cannot wind down our brains. We stay up way too late, stimulating our brains. I stopped playing video games a number of years ago because of the intensity of play right up until bed time. Then in the course of the night I can recall video game imagery. I have since added a do not disturb section on my phone. I have lived with tinnitus since I was twelve and do not know silence. People who can go to the country to experience the silence, in my head the noise is deafening. In my area we have trains that pass through the night, after a rain, frogs make their presence known to potential mates and to anyone else in the area. Your brain can get used to the everyday noise that surrounds you. It is up to you to figure out what you can live with and what will annoy you. My house hums constantly. The Mini split runs, a real clock that ticks the seconds, a kind of loud refrigerator, a 24 hour gym across the street from me. (that took some time to getting used to) My main issue is light pollution over noise. More and more my neighbors have added glaring and blaring white/blue lights that cancel out the dark. My city changed the street lights to a white/blue led lighting that also adds to the eliminating of the night. Rox of Spazhouse, Intuitive Research

I don't need any gizmos, I just need complete darkness, and as little noise as possible living in Chicago, thats very hard. Sirens all times of the night, and the light pollution is insane. I almost resorted to a blindfold and ea plugs, but wearing that would also inhibit my sleep.

The last two paragraphs spoke to me. We are in the midst of an on-going suspense story which makes it difficult to stop engaging with the media. And we (or, at least I), definitely do not move enough during the day to wear myself out physically.

I live in a town on an island in Maine's Penobscot Bay. It's wonderfully quiet most of the time, especially at night, so no white noise is necessary for me. The worst noise problem here, at least in my thinking, is what I call the red-neck muffler, the muffler on a car or truck that is installed to intentionally make the vehicle exhaust noise louder. Some people actually like noise, for some mysterious and complex psychological reasons, and the companies that manufacture those things probably have lobbyists in D.C. and in State Houses that keep the noise laws in communities as ineffective as possible. I put a bumper sticker on my car that says, "Honk if you [heart] noise." It's meant to be ironic, of course, but the irony seems to escape most people.

My favorite white noise generator while sleeping is a purring cat smooshed up against the side of my head.

Surely, the number of gizmos needed given darknress is exactly none.