the story
Silicon Valley is known for a lot of things. Microchips, search engines, unnecessary apps, and hoodies. Lots and lots of hoodies.
What’s not as typical is a sound machine company like Adaptive Sound Technologies that specializes in sound-masking technology (AKA noise) that will help you ignore other noise for better sleep or tuning out that coworker who won’t stop talking about their cat.
Cats are weird and do funny stuff. We get it.
ASTI products are sold at pretty much every major retailer (Amazon, Sears, Newegg, Walmart) and with 500m people worldwide suffering from sleep disorders, they have plenty of sheep left to count.
why we like it
When we moved offices at The Hustle, we opted for the open floor plan. It’s hip, fun, and makes it feel like one big happy family. Problem is, it’s loud. Super loud.
Even if you’re in a closed room, the sounds bounces off the walls and private meetings easily turn into unexpected all hands. Not to mention, the impromptu conversations about whatever the heck Bitcoin is selling for that day.
To deal with it, we could either turn it into a library with a no talking policy or figure out how to mask the noise so our people could be productive without having to escape into their own headphones. So, we looked around for solutions and ended up going with some sound-absorbing decor and a few of the LectroFan White Noise Machines to add some privacy.
And while it may sound crazy to add more noise into an already noisy environment, your brain almost immediately blocks out the sound. It’s been a total gamechanger to the point where a few of us picked up personal versions to block all the city noises and help with sleep.
You can cycle through 10 different noise variations to find your favorite and easily adjust the volume. Don’t start a meeting without one. Or talk about your cats too much at work.
the competition
One popular option is the Marpac Dohm-DS which features an internal fan with 2 different speeds meaning that the sound, while natural, will be limited like a normal fan except without the air movement (probably should just get a fan like the Vornado VFAN). The Marpac has 12k reviews on Amazon with a respectable 4.3/5 stars.
If you’re looking to get funky with your design and complexity, check out the HoMedics White Noise Machine. It’s bigger than the LectroFan, has a screen, and sticks up like a sail, but with similar features like different white noise tones as well as water and nature sounds.
There are also white noise apps for your phone (just search the App Store or Google Play store) which are going to be by far the cheapest options, but with the obvious downsides of low volume and battery drain.
