My Neurodivergent Brain Notices Every Little Noise. This OG Sound Machine Helps Blur Them Out.

In my early twenties, a secondhand Yogasleep Dohm Sound Machine landed on my nightstand. I was living in an old Park Slope apartment with an upstairs neighbor whose kitchen sat directly above my bed. Every footstep, chair pull, and mysterious late-night snack run seemed to accelerate my beating heart. My landlord recommended a sound machine. I rolled my eyes, thinking, This man will do anything but fix the floorboards.For my neurodivergent brain, a sound someone might be able to push into the background can often stay firmly planted in the foreground. Luckily, a friend, in the midst of their own distinctly New York apartment saga and desperate to get rid of any extra weight, asked if I wanted her Dohm. I took it with few expectations.About the sound machineWhite-noise and sleep machines might be trendy now, but the Yogasleep Dohm is a low-tech OG. It has been around since 1962.The dome-shaped machine contains a physical fan that creates a steady rush of air without actually blowing air into the room. There are no prerecorded tracks, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, or app. Instead, a switch offers two fan speeds—high and low—and twisting the outer housing adjusts the tone of the sound and the volume (it reaches up to 57.4 decibels).The biggest difference from a digital sound machine? The noise isn’t a recording playing on a loop; it comes from the consistent rotation of the fan itself.The sound machine plugs into an outlet, which isn’t the best for portability, but no problem if you’re leaving it stationary by your bed most nights. It comes in several colors, including white, black, gray, tan, and pink. It’s smaller than I thought; it’s about 6 inches by 3 inches, which is small enough to fit on my windowsill.ProsEasy to useTwo fan speeds mean fewer choicesAdjustable tone and volumeCompact design and multiple colorsNo prerecorded loopMakes individual environmental sounds less distinctConsThe vents collect dust (unless I’m just exposing myself for not cleaning it as much as I should)Requires an outletLimited volume rangeNo additional sound optionsHow to use itUnbox, plug in, and twist to activate the fan. That’s about it.The button switch on the front toggles between high and low fan speed. Then, the cap and collar twist separately to “tune” the volume and tone.I’ve experimented with different combinations, but my brain tends to settle on the slower fan speed with higher volume. Once I find a frequency that I like, I leave the housing alone, and at night I can just flip the switch back on to tune back in to that same frequency. This also makes minor adjustments easier.My reviewLiles DixonThe YogaSleep Dohm on the windowsill of my Brooklyn apartment.I’ve been sensitive to noise for as long as I can remember. One of my earliest memories is lying awake with my siblings in the heavy air of a Cape Cod motel, fixated on a particular frequency from the air conditioner rattling above us.“Do you hear that?” I asked.“Hear what?” they’d respond, to my dismay.The best way I can describe the Dohm is like throwing a fuzzy blanket over the room that buffers any noise coming from the outside. My upstairs neighbor can walk freely for her midnight snacks, my next-door neighbor can play his guitar, someone can talk in the hallway (at a minimal volume, let’s not get too carried away...), and the steady rush of the machine seems to soften all the noise.I also appreciate that there isn’t a recording for me to anticipate restarting. The fan just keeps moving consistently. A footstep no longer lands against a completely quiet bedroom. A passing car has another layer of sound to move through. Voices become less distinct. Although I still notice the little sounds around me, they don’t arrive one by one.Final verdictAs someone who is sensitive to sound and its varying frequencies, I used to lie in bed hyperaware of every little noise around me, keeping me awake late at night. The Dohm sound machine gives my brain one consistent noise to latch onto instead, and it’s made falling asleep (and staying asleep) noticeably easier. It doesn’t make my apartment silent. Instead, the steady fan sound softens the hard edges of everything happening around me.I have two of them throughout my space now, which might be the highest compliment of all.SHOP: $50 at Amazon