Has anybody ever used a “sound soother” – one of those white noise devices that’s supposed to help you sleep? I’ve wanted one for many years, so long that when I originally started wanting one they seemed as expensive as a car. (When you’re a kid, there’s affordable, which might be a candy bar, and expensive, which is everything else.) My brother-in-law got a Sharper Image catalog in the mail today, and while flipping through it I noticed they have a number of Sound Soothers. The one that has the most appeal to me is the Travel Sound Soother. It plays 20 sounds (though I listened to all of them in a Flash window and I only liked a few of them), features a ramp-up snooze alarm (we have one of those now, it’s nice), can take batteries or an A/C adapter, and you can buy a pillow speaker for $15.

But I have no idea if these things actually work. I’ve wanted one forever but I’ve never done research to see if they’re effective! A friend of mine suggested that a big fan is better, but fans blow air. So I’m hoping to poll my readers to see if they’re any good! Has anybody tried these?