I Tried the Yogasleep Dohm Classic Natural Sound Machine

When I first moved into my apartment on a busy street in Brooklyn, I arrived confident in the abilities of my trusty tower fan to drown out the sound of traffic at night. But after just one sleepless night and the constant sound of trucks bouncing along, city buses opening and closing their doors, and the general din of horns honking, I realized that I’d need to figure out a more effective solution. Fast forward a few months, and I’ve finally discovered the ultimate gadget for falling asleep in a 24/7 city: the Yogasleep Dohm Classic Natural Sound Machine.

Although I typically sleep with some sort of noise in the backdrop, I’ve never found a white noise machine that worked for me — the pitch of the manufactured fan sound or babbling brook is always too loud and distracting. However, when I discovered the Dohm sound machine, I was intrigued by its focus on natural sound. This device actually uses pink noise, which emits a deeper, more even-toned sound than the white noise machines you might be used to. It’s way less intrusive yet much more effective. Win-win!

What I love most about the Yogasleep device is its smart design. Instead of lots of confusing controls, there is one switch that denotes either a high or low sound. Then, you can adjust both the base and the top by rotating to see what frequency of sound is best for you. Opt for a soft rumble, or turn it as high as possible for the ultimate noise-drowning-out experience (as I have to do!). Because I’ve been sensitive to white noise machines in the past, I expected that using the Dohm at its loudest level would bother me. Instead, I find that after just a few seconds, it really does blend into the background.

Before I discovered this sound machine, I had been taking hours to fall asleep. Even with sleep aids to reduce the anxiety I’d developed around bedtime, my body would tense as soon as I got under the covers and waited for the first wailing car horn. With the Dohm, my room has become a cozy cocoon where the sounds of the outside world are blurred out, nowhere near as intense as they were before. In fact, I now trust this little machine so much that sometimes I turn it on during the day while I work from home, especially when I need to focus.