Best White Noise Machines in 2022

How We Chose Our Selection of the Best White Noise Machines

When compiling our recommendations, we always do extensive research so that you don’t have to. We take into account all the consumer reviews available and assess the feedback. We also appreciate that everyone has different budgets so our products selection always has to feature something for everyone, no matter what cash you might personally have to splash! So you will always find a range of prices, including budget, mid and top end models.

We also try and represent a cross-section of brands too, rather than sticking with one established partner so there really should be a good cross-section of models in our comprehensive guide, one of which will be just right for your own unique needs.

Features To Look For In White Noise Machines

Your white noise machines, while first and foremost having been designed to help give you a better quality of sleep and promote more enhanced levels of relaxation, will feature a range of other benefits that might be important to you. Below are some of the considerations that we recommend you first decide upon first before investing in a new machine.

Pretty much all the brands will be the same in that they offer portable and compact solutions so that you never have to miss out on your valuable beauty sleep while you are away from home but of course, there are plenty of other distinctions between the various devices.

Sound profiles – do you want white noise or would you like nature sounds and fan noises too. Is it essential to be able to adjust and control the volume and tone of your sounds?

Speaker – do you want a high-quality integrated speaker?

Settings – is it important to be able to have programmable pre-set timing functions so that you can blissfully drift off to sleep and not worry about having to wake up to switch off your machine?

Features – do you also want a night light or a unit that can self-adapt to your ambient environment? How about a handy USB charger built-in too?

Display – would you prefer to have a fully digital display and be able to adjust the brightness overnight for example?

Portability – is it important to have a unit that goes with you on your travels and if so do you want

one that is also battery operated rather than only being able to work off an AC adaptor?

Design – if you are placing this in your bedroom, what kind of design aesthetics would you like to have in your machine to that it will seamlessly blend in with the rest of your decor.

White Noise Machine FAQ

Q: What is a white noise machine?

A: A white noise machine is a device that can help promote a more restful nights sleep, amongst other things. This is their principal use though, and you might also find them referred to as acoustic sleep machines. As with all things in life, all budgets are catered for, and white noise machines vary significantly in price and can come with a whole host of additional features and benefits incorporated. What they mainly do is mask or screen sounds, creating what you might describe as being a static barrier that can help prevent external auditory interruptions. In a more budget-friendly white noise machine you may only be able to choose from a limited amount of white noises; perhaps even as little as just two. With the more expensive price tags come more advanced features such as a more extensive choice of soundscapes.

Q: What is white noise?

A: White noise is most commonly used to help promote healthy and more restful sleep. In essence, it is a unique type of sound signal that can be used to disguise or mask over other background sounds. What it does is drown out the other distracting sounds that might be preventing you from falling asleep or that might wake up while you are sleeping. You know, like the neighbors' dog barking at silly o’clock in the morning or your partner snoring! Put in technical terms, white noise is specifically a noise where the amplitude and range of audio frequency are entirely constant throughout. The origins and theory behind the productivity and usefulness of white noise coming from the disciplines of mathematics and engineering. Besides the more commercially apparent use in helping with enhanced sleep, it can also be found in a wide variety of applications and industries from acoustics to electronics and even computer programming.

Q: How to use a white noise machine?

A: Just switch on your white noise machine, select the sound that appeals to you most, depending upon your own personal preferences but also what options your model has and just relax! They make an excellent solution for anyone who has disturbed sleep patterns or who lives in a noisy area or works in a place where there is plenty of distracting background noise which might lead to lapses in concentration. They are also great to use for soothing a troubled baby too and can help ease the ringing air syndrome referred to as tinnitus.

Q: What does white noise sound like?

A: White noise has to be generated electronically and to be totally honest, it’s not in itself that pleasant a sound! It could be described as sounding a little bit like TV or radio static. Which, we don’t know why (well yes we do as we are old enough to remember) reminds us of a classic Horror movie. It’s a little bit disturbing!

Q: What are other types of ‘white noise’ sounds?

A: White noise has become more of a generic term over the years, and you will now find that it gets attached to a number of sounds that aren’t technically white. So any constant, unchanging background music or general noise might get referred to as white noise. It’s general parlance for nature sounds, machinery noises and also some more ambient soundscapes, hence the use of white noise more commonly I rest, relaxation and sleep aids. Who doesn’t love the gentle lullaby of crickets chirping or rain falling in a tropical rainforest as you drift off into slumber as opposed to the humdrum of your air conditioning unit!

Q: How does white noise work?

A: It’s based around, and while it might seem a little counter-intuitive on the surface of things, it does work. The principle being that adding white noise will blend with and therefore minimize any overall background sounds that might be causing a disturbance. What happens is that your brain starts to pay less attention. The process works whether we are awake or asleep as we become increasingly unaware of the background noises so that we hardly register that they are there any longer. Think about the sound a refrigerator makes but how that never records on your cognitive radar day to day. It just becomes part of the background noise in your kitchen that you are entirely used to. Hit the right registry of white noise, and you might just fall asleep and slip into a totally relaxed state just about anywhere. Yes, even in a nightclub!

Q: What are the benefits of using a white noise machine?

A: When you start to apply white noise in environments, such as your bedroom for example, via a dedicated white noise machine, you are triggering a sound mask. So rather than eradicating the noise, they just blend in with the noise signal that your device is omitting. This makes them particularly useful for anyone with regularly suffers from disturbed sleep patterns. White noise isn’t just good for sleep, but it can also promote a more relaxed environment and help increase levels of concentration in say an office or busy environment where there are a lot of ambient background distractions. A white noise machine has also been found to be beneficial in providing relief to tinnitus sufferers too.

White noise can also be particularly useful for soothing a troubled baby. Babies get easily startled, and white noise can be used to ease and quieten a baby who’s a little bit jumpy.

A: Is white noise harmful?

A: That’s a good question, and while this is a relatively new area of research, there is little to suggest in any studies so far conducted that there is any long-term adverse effect. Just exercise the usual caution, especially when you are using for the benefit of a baby whose brain and senses are still constantly evolving. Be sure not to overwhelm their delicate sensitivities with anything that could be potentially harmful. So limit the volume setting and maybe only use a white noise machine sparingly during babies early infant years.