Marpac SleepMate 980A Electro-Mechanical Sound Conditioner

I live in an apartment. My next door neighbors' family includes a young man with Down syndrome. He makes a LOT of noise; I can't sleep when he's awake. I've talked to them about it, but it's a pretty difficult subject to broach more than once. I'm sure you can understand.

I needed something to mask his voice. I found a 10-second sample of pink noise online. Pink noise is like white noise but without the harsh sounds in the treble register. It sounds like an open faucet and a loud box fan: the two things that it's hardest to hear people over. I have good speakers so I can turn that sound up loud enough to drown the guy out -- and go right to sleep.

I bought this device because I didn't want to run my computer all night just so it could loop that clip. I figured it'd be more energy efficient, at least: my little effort to Go Green.

Well, the machine makes sound. It just doesn't make enough of it. Sure, there are two speeds, and the sound is able to be adjusted and the volume is able to be controlled. I've put it on the maximum on all settings and, even ON MY BED, it's not loud enough to drown out my neighbor. If what you want is a device that makes a constant noise to mask an intermittent, annoying noise you can't control, look elsewhere.

I'm returning the product. It's back to the pink noise clip for me. I suppose the environment will have to wait until I find a new apartment.

We were amazed how something that was supposed to provide soothing white noise produced a noise like that of a train going by. Very loud and annoying.

Thin walls and close proximity led us to purchase this white noise machine to ensure confidentiality in conversations. It has worked well toward that end.

This unit produces a fan-like whir that helps masks sounds coming from neighbors, trains, and traffic. It has two speeds that puts the volume into two ranges that can be further adjusted by twisting the cap of the unit. I highly recommend this product.

The SleepMate is one of my "top 10 things to not leave home without when going out of town". I am lost without my machine, or as SleepMate calls it the "sound conditioner".

I have actually bought two of these now. The initial one I bought was a purchase for myself, but when my daughter kept waking up at night (we weren't sure why at the time), we moved the SleepMate into her room and it has been there (and on) every since.

Needless to say, I am thrilled with my purchase. The ability to change the tone, the multiple "speed" settings, and the compactness of this machine make it suitable for anywhere (bedroom, office, etc.). While in the same room as one of these, while talking on the phone many people state that it sounds very similar to a fan in the background. It is very subtle.

We have grown so accustomed to having the SleepMate on that when it is not on, unknowingly I get this weird anxious feeling that something isn't right and find it nearly impossible to get to sleep without it now.

I feel that the SleepMate produces a much more natural sound than it's electronic counter parts, plus the ability to adjust the pitch and fan speed make it suitable for almost any environment where you would either like to not have people listening or, or you don't want to hear what is going on around you. I could see these working very well in an office environment.

I hope my review helped you reach a decision on your purchase.