The 5 Best Sound Machines for Kids Reviewed
Most babies have trouble falling asleep at times. That’s why parents are sure to appreciate good advice that will help calm the little one down. The repertoire of calming measures can never be big enough. White noise can work wonders when used correctly as can other sounds because they offer the child a sense of comfort and even distraction which allows them to fall to sleep easier and even ease any anxiety that they may have. Even before they are born, babies are used to loud noises. The womb is a surprisingly noisy environment. The immature nervous system makes the little ones particularly scared. We are all born with a preprogrammed ability to respond to threatening noises or sudden movements. This can cause problems, especially at first and when sleeping. To calm a baby, many parents rely on the tried and tested methods: They sing lullabies or gently rock their children to sleep. But this is where white noise can also be very helpful.
That is why if you’re looking for the best sound machine for your baby, you should certainly look at these five reviews to give you a good overview of which machine will be best for your needs. From USB charging machines to antigalactic star projectors, see what there is to offer you on the market today:
Best Sound Machines for Kids
1. Hatch Baby Rest Sound Machine
This machine is multi-functional for kids. Not only does it boast multicolor settings, but it also has a time-to-rise alert which means that you can gently wake your children with a special setting. It’s easy to use and can be set up via your phone which makes life much simpler. The requirements are that you have a Smartphone or tablet that runs on iOS (11 or higher) or Android (Lollipop or higher). The rest program can be changed without having to enter the room to do so, which means that your child won’t need to be disrupted. The light settings are specially designed for children, offering soft light settings and sounds that offer comfort. Have it as background noise or a little louder for noise blocking; it offers different options.
There is also safety in abundance, with a toddler lock so that nothing is changed or altered and keeps the machine in the setting that you have chosen. It encourages better sleep with its functions. It claims to enhance and encourage a child’s sleep cycle. With eleven sound settings that offer sounds of nature, it allows your child to fall asleep naturally. If you do not have access to a newer smartphone, this option may not fully meet your requirements as it does function quite heavily on phone setup. It also doesn’t have a battery set up so it does require plug in day after day.
- Note that new, updated 2nd Gen Wi-Fi version of this product is also available, with additional features.
- Sound Machine. Includes soothing sounds like white noise, ocean, wind, birds and rain.
- Night Light. Fun, bedside lamp with infinite custom color hues. Illuminate the crib and changing table to ease nighttime infant feedings.
- Time-to-Rise. Program color and sound to let your early riser know when to stay in bed and when it’s ok to wake up.
- Control via app. Adjust settings with smartphone, or control volume and nightlight by touch with easy-access buttons on the device.
2. I CODE Alarm Clock Sound Machine
Known as the ‘sleep trainer’, this little machine offers options for parents to naturally encourage their child to get into a positive sleep cycle. This clock allows them to be taught when it’s time to go to sleep and when it’s time to wake up. The main features are its alarm clock, sleep sounds and a night light that illuminates into three brightness shades, and offers pastel light shades, pinks and blues to match your child’s tastes. During the night, the machine displays graphics to help you teach your child about sleeping and waking. It displays a moon during the evening. When the sun shows, they know it’s time to get up. It aims to stop children rising too early or too late in the mornings.
It is touch sensitive which means that it can just be gently touched to activate or turn off and there are 17 ‘nature sounds’ to choose from. With adjustable features, such as snooze and a 12/24 setting, it’s easy to set it up. Some of the sounds include animal noises or weather sounds such as rain and wind. Although the only drawback is a slightly complex set up, once this is achieved, it is easy to maintain and assists parents in their quest for a better night’s sleep. It may be a little less user friendly than other machines, but if the multiple settings aren’t a put off, this could be a good choice for you.
- 【SLEEP TRAINING CLOCK】 Younger children can not fully understand the concept of time,we design this clock to teach your children when its fine to go sleep and wake up! it comes with all the features necessary to help your kids sleep better and wake-up refreshed! It's a sleep trainer, alarm clock, sleep sounds machine, night light and sleep timer rolled into one package.
- 【HOW IT WORKS 】At a young age, toddlers know the icons and understand that the sun means it's time to get up or get out of bed. During the night , the clock gently glows a moon, children know it's time to sleep or stay in bed until the sun shows.
- 【 TOUCH SENSITIVE NIGHT LIGHT】Benefit sleep timer function lets you fall sleep with night light for a certain time then auto turn off. 3 brightness for warm/white light.color lights can change automatically or fix a color you like. Just touch to turn on/off or choose color and brightness.
- 【MULTI-FUNCTIONAL ALARM CLOCK】17 nature sounds.Features snooze,12/24 hour format,adjustable volume, backlight dimmable.
- 【SOUND MACHINE】 Choose from 17 high-quality smoothing sounds: Thunder, Ocean, Rain, Summer Night,Frog,Cat,Sheep,Cow,Duck. Features AUTO-OFF TIMER or play whole night continuously.
3. Yachance Star Projector sound machine
This machine looks a little more futuristic in style. Shaped like something antigalactic, it encourages children to sleep better and learn the rudiments of nighttime habits. This machine boasts its environmentally-friendly design. Made from non-toxic silicone, it is sustainable and durable. Powered by LED, the night lights are bright but can be made vivid or more subtle depending on the type of style you desire. It offers a 360-degree rotating design which displays shadow patterns, which means that your child can look at the shapes (such as stars), on the ceiling as they drift off. It has 8 different color effects to suit all children’s tastes. It is also lightweight and comes with its own remote.
With its built-in sound system, it offers a 128M- Memory card and offers sounds such as streams, white noise, summer nights and even a heartbeat, which is ideal for newborns and smaller babies. You can add your own sounds to the machine through the memory card, but they must be converted into MP3 first. It is fully customizable and you can set it for a maximum of 995 minutes. It is also known as the ‘Gentle Eye Care Night Light’, the LED is not overstimulating for smaller children and can be dimmed to around 10% for ambience lighting. Ideal for smaller babies as it offers a gentle stimulation in the evenings as they fall off to sleep.
- 【MULTI-FUNCTIONAL】YACHANCE night light projector is a combination star projector night light, white noise machine,music sound machine,baby nursery night light, and timer in one easy-to-use unit. This night light projector comes with natural sounds and soothing music for kids so they can fall asleep quickly. Projecting a dreamy starry sky on the ceiling and walls provide focused visuals for your baby girls and boys to feel safe and relaxed.
- 【EASY TO USE】You can use the remote control remotely to turn on/off the baby night light projector , customize the color, brightness, sound, volume, timer and rotation and more. You can also turn off the timer or Set 5-995 minutes timing.When the set time is up, the kids night light will automatically turn off.Parents don't have to get up after their children fall asleep to turn off the baby star projector night light, which would disturb yours and your kid's sleep.
- 【PROMOTES A HEALTHY DEEP SLEEP】This baby night light and sound machine built-in white noise machine and a 128M memory card. The white noise machine built-in 9 natural sounds （including shushing, heartbeat, white noise, streams, thunder, waves, birdcalls, rain, and summer nights）record 20 soothing lullabies on the memory card (you can also add your favorite music). The sound machine provides the best sounds for soothing baby or kids to quickly fall into a deep sleep and to stay asleep longer.
- 【ADDS A VARIETY OF FUN TO YOUR LIVING SPACE】The high-power LED lamp bead projected pattern is more vivid and clear, making the color far more gorgeous.Silent 360-degree rotating design and 8 different color lighting effects. Projects soothing images of dreamy starry skies on the ceiling and walls.Create a cozy and romantic atmosphere for your kids room,bedroom,nursery,living room,dining room. Lets you and your family enjoy a comfortable night.
- 【GENTLE EYE CARE NIGHT LIGHT】There are three night lights at the projector bottom,utilizes non-strobe high-quality LED light beads.The kids night light emits an eye-safe gentle glow that will not irritate or disturb your baby's sleep. Warm yellow light creates a loving relaxing atmosphere, which allows babies to sleep more peacefully. Adjusts for three levels of brightness (10%, 50%, 99%), to meet your different brightness needs. This is the ideal choice for night feedings or diaper changes.
4. Housbay Glows
This little blue machine has a lot to offer. Firstly it offers a 60 day guarantee in case the product doesn’t fit your requirements; but the chances are, it will. It offers a 2 in1 feature, glows and sounds at the same time, offering a customizable experience, such as light color, mode, brightness and the glow settings automatically stored to make sure it is an easy experience every night. It offers 17 nature sounds, 7 white noise sounds and an additional 7 fan sounds to create a personalized experience for the child. It is a good choice for those disrupted by particular sounds such as loud traffic outside, noisy hotel rooms, or unfavorable neighbors. It should help the child to calm quickly.
The glow feature is perfect for nighttime nursing. It offers a calm environment for babies who are being changed or feeding and allows them to connect easier, promoting growth and happiness. Housbay Glows is also a travel-friendly solution. It is small and compact and will easily fit inside a suitcase or travel bag. It is powered by USB which means you can charge on the go and is a safe and secure item. Although one drawback seems to be the battery life and glitches with the on/off button but when it is fully charged this should not be an issue.
- [ What This Machine Can Do ]- Tune out all disruptive noise to sleep well, concentrate better, and have more privacy space- loud neighbors, street noise, snoring, tinnitus, barking dogs, office conversations, and more.
- [ Immersive Sounds Surround You ]- 7 fan sounds without using a real fan in winter, 7 white noises without looping tracks, and 17 realistic nature sound surround you at home.
- [ Nightlight Is A Bonus ]- You can stumble out of bed, change your newborn's diaper or nighttime feeding, and get back to sleep with as little disruption to your family as possible in the middle of the night. Surprisingly, 8 colors night light cycle mode can automatically change, get more fun for your kids ! (Note: the nightlight can turn off completely)
- [ Make Anywhere Feel Like Home ]- Take the peaceful sound environment of your bedroom on the road so that you are ready for whatever noise will happen with your hotel or vacation.
- [ Volume Control & Auto-off Timer ]- You can customize the volume level to go from very low to quite loud, set non-stop playing, or use a sleep timer to turn off sound/nightlight, and the machine can auto-save all your preferred settings.
5. Jack & Rose White Noise Machine
This simple yet effective machine offers a modern, subtle concept. Small and compact, this machine boasts 7 color settings, from neutral yellows to brighter blues, depending on the mood you wish to set. The warm lighting sets seek to assist babies in falling asleep easier and bring a calming effect to the room. It offers 16 high fidelity soothing sounds, including birds, insects, distant ocean, heartbeat sounds and even lullabies. It offers 6 white noise sounds that can be customized and offers impeccable sleep quality for babies.
It has a specialized timer and memory function system, which allows the sound to be continuously played or timed, with intervals of 15, 15,30,60,90,120 min auto-off timer. It stores settings in its memory for easy access every evening, to play or replay what you have programmed. A thoughtful design, it offers assistance to drown out street sounds, neighbor sounds and even snoring. Although the only drawback seems to be the battery life is more minimal, it offers a compact option and is travel-friendly. Some colors cannot be set in the system and therefore the colors may rotate when you set it up.
- WHITE NOISE MACHINE BABY: With its fetal heartbeat sound, our baby sleep sound machine mimics the sound of a mother's womb, which helps newborn babies fall asleep faster and stay asleep longer. At nap time or nighttime, this audio machine will help keep your baby asleep. A sleeping baby means more sleep for the whole family!
- 16 HIFI SOOTHING SOUNDS: Imagine a trip through the forest on a summer night. In addition to the chirping of insects and birds, you can hear the ocean waves in the distance, water flowing in the valley, and a sudden rain... Equipped with 6 white noises, 4 lullabies, and 6 nature sounds, the white noise machine can effectively mask disturbing or frightening sounds and protect sleep quality.
- SLEEP MACHINE: Our sleep sound machine provides you with colorful nighttime care using its unique seven-color night light. It has been proven that babies fall asleep easily with warm lights and lullabies.
- TIMER AND MEMORY FUNCTION: The sleep sound machine can play continuously or has an automatic shut-off timer for 15, 30, 60, 90, or 120 minutes. Set a timer on the sound machine to make the most effective use of it. In addition, the white noise machine remembers your previous settings for light, sound, and volume, so you don't have to press buttons all the time!
- TURN YOUR BEDROOM INTO A SLEEP SANCTUARY: This thoughtful white noise machine is designed to shield you from noisy neighborhoods, noisy car whistles, nearby dog barks and snoring husbands. Enjoy sweet dreams throughout a quiet and peaceful night.
Do sound machines and white noise really improve sleep?
For some science on how white noise helps you sleep, watch this video:
Conclusion
All of the above reviewed items come with their own benefits and styles, with relatively similar price tags. Eventually however, making a decision comes down to the size of the machine you are looking for, whether it needs to be travel friendly and what types of sounds it plays. Whilst certain machines offer easy to charge functions, others may require being plugged in. all offer color changes aside from the Yachance Star Projector sound machine which offers something a little different as a projector and makes for an interesting choice for your child or baby’s room. So whatever brand you choose to go with, ensure that it meets all your requirements to ensure both you and baby can look forward to more restful nights of sleep.