by Sicco | Apr 13, 2014 | General, Machine Sounds, Mechanical sounds, White noise
Machines can give us reliable predictable white noise to aid in sleep
When I look back at my childhood and think of what helped me sleep on a restless night, I think of a machine. It was a machine that could lull me to sleep.
My father was a plant seedsman, essentially an intermediary between those who grew plants and those who purchased the seeds. He had a home office and a package counter/sealer machine that would do a number of things essential to his business. First there was the seed container that would be filled with thousands of seeds. Those would travel up to to the funnel that would drop them into individual packages. The way the seeds would travel is by vibration which made kind of a humming sound. This vibrating circular container would cause the seeds to travel up a spiral so that they would become single file. This allowed the seed counter to count the seeds exactly. My father would set a limit on the number of seeds that could go through the counter, before it signals that there were now enough seeds for that particular package.
Next stage in the machine sounds
After the machine had filled a bag, it was sealed on three ends by using heat transfer. Than, a mechanical scissor would cut the bag (that was still part of a large roll of coated paper), to make it an individual bag of seeds. This process was a scissor clipping sound combined with a moving of the rolls sound, and then a sealing sound, and then finally the top of the bag would now also be sealed, and the bag would then fall into a holding container. Meanwhile the process would repeat over and over, at times my father had this machine running 24 hours a day. Sometimes the machine needed breaks for lubrication, or it needed new seeds, and new rolls, and other tweaks, so technically it was not always running continuously without any interruptions. But it could run for hours at a time.
I slept 2 floors above the seed packaging machine which was on ground level. I could faintly hear it all the way on the third floor. However, when having trouble sleeping, I would go down to the second floor and lay on the staircase landing so the machine sound would lull me into sleep. There was something very peaceful about the consistency in the machine operations, as though it provided some reliability and predictability and this “white noise” in turn washed out all unexpected or startling sounds, thus aiding those who might be light sleepers as I tend to be at times. Those kinds of sounds can be comforting and consequently help us put our minds at ease.
I wish my father still had his machine, it would be great to add this sound to the sound library. I will however continue to be on the lookout for those types of consistent machine sounds to help folks who have trouble falling asleep.
One of the sounds I really enjoy, and find comforting is the sound of a dishwasher. Try this dishwasher sound if you would like 8 hours of this sound, and be sure to like it if you find it helpful!
by Sicco | Mar 29, 2014 | sleep, White noise
White Noise: Relaxation And Restful Sleep
In today’s modern age of anxiety and always being in a hurry, it makes it difficult to stop and smell the roses sometimes. The search for true relaxation and a break from the constant stress of society is something that we can all identify with. However, there is now a way to block out the stress and the fuss of the world; white noise.
White Noise Sounds can help with sleep and tinnitus
White noise works by combining a broad spectrum of sound waves to produce the end result of a steady, repeated noise series. These frequencies can then be used to help the listener block out the rest of the world, as all they hear is the same generic noise. Eventually the brain naturally blocks the rest of the frequencies out leaving you with a much more clear mind. Many find this to be one of the most important aspects of relaxation and really being able to focus on your thoughts. It is because of this that white noise is often combined with mediation or worked into one’s meditation music.
Many people who struggle with sleep problems related to outside noise can also find solace in white noise. A very common example of this is the pre-loaded sounds that come with many alarm clocks such as the sound of a river, ocean, or forest. All of these are white noises and work essentially the same. This calming example of white noise is responsible for helping millions of Americans sleep by drowning out the unwanted and stressful noises of the outside and allowing them to receded into their own personal state of relaxation.
Stress is another major issue that many people struggle with. It is very difficult to not get caught up in the worry of deadlines, dates, and appointments that all of us must deal with on a regular basis. Recovering from this stress seems to be harder than the activities that caused the stress in the first place. One of the key steps in reducing generalized anxiety is to remove all other distractions and only focus on what is truly important. White noise helps many people do this in a fantastic way that was never thought possible before. When listening to white noise, you are more focused on the single task that you are currently doing. This can not only make you much more productive than before, but also reduce stress on an astronomical level.
Everyone can identify with having too much clutter on your mind to deal with at one time. This is a very normal response due to the sheer amount of things that we are responsible for everyday. One of the beautiful things about white noise is it’s ability to help you remove this clutter and leave you with a much enjoyed quiet mind. White noise manages to do this while at the same time not overstimulating your mind and making it difficult to think. This invaluable effect of white noise has attributed greatly to it’s rise in popularity in recent years as more and more people are discovering the health benefits of it.
The medical field could also see some use of white noise in the future. As more research is done on the effects of white noise, it’s effectiveness in the use of ADD and ADHD treatment is becoming much more visible. This makes sense, as white noise tends to cancel out unnecessary thought clutter and help listeners focus. Some medical studies are even making the claim that white noise may be as effective for prescription drugs for the treatment of these disorders. If this proves to be true, dangerous drugs such as Adderall and Ritalin could greatly reduce in their use and vastly improve the health of Americans.
Overall, white noise is certainly something that should be considered by those seeking to reduce their level stress or improve their sleep. Listening to a simple noise could have the potential to solve many problems for you that appeared to be more complicated than they were. The potential medical use of white noise also seems very promising as not only has it proven to be effective in the treatment of several disorders, such as tinnitus (see research here), but also no drug could ever be safer than simply listening to a noise.
Here are some white noise sounds that might help.
Bathtub filling with water
Ocean Sounds
