Adaptive Sound Technologies

This is a fabulous piece of technology. I have two regular units, one in each bedroom. I also have the smaller Nomad in my open space kitchen/​DR/​LV/​FR. I understand the Nomad is no longer available, but wonder why? Does anyone know? I love it and take it with me when I travel. It is a godsend. With my three units, I surround myself with ocean sounds and usually do not hear my neighbors below me. I feel private and as if I am at a resort. I do have a little problem with one of them making a kind of «static» sound occasionally, but honestly, I love this sound machine so much I put up with it!!!

I was having a sound problem with my Ecotones and called their customer service department. I explained the problem to Jack and he told me that because my unit was 4 – 5 years old, they no longer made the parts for it. I took a deep breath expecting to hear that I was out of luck, and would have to throw it in the garbage. Then Jack told me that they were shipping me a brand new unit. I was shocked. No questions asked. I love the product and now I love it more. They are a stand up company and I will recommend them to anyone wanting a sound machine.

I live in a noisy NYC apartment above a major avenue, and use the «sound machine» to screen out street noise during the day, when I’m working at home, and at night, when I need to sleep. I’ve used several machines over the years (this, the Marpac, HoMedics and a portable one, the Nature Disk by Pacific Pathway). Without question, the Sound + Sleep is the best white noise machine ever. Why?
First, the cheaper sound generating machines (HoMedics, Nature Disk) have a very short loop on the sounds which your brain identifies as a pattern and which then become an irritant. The Sound + Sleep has either very long or non-​repeating loops and this doesn’t happen. I truly feel that I am on a train, listening to rain or in front of a fireplace. That’s awesome.
Second, the «adaptive» sound setting really does work. As the level of the street noise outside changes, so does the audio volume of the machine. This is especially helpful to me during the day, when I’m working at home. The decibel level of the street noise outside is usually pretty constant at night at between 50 and 60 db, so it’s less of an issue then, but during the day it spikes with motorcycle engines, trucks with back-​up beepers, large trucks, etc. at 60 – 75 db. I plug in a pair of over the ear headphones into the headphone jack on the side of the unit, and voilà, I have a pair of noise-​canceling headphones that I can use in my study. The Sleep + Sound machine is the only sleep machine that I’ve seen that is capable of doing this. Amazing.
Third, there is a lot of attention-​to-​detail in the design. The buttons are straightforward and easy to use for the sleep-​impaired. They have small LED’s that illuminate the settings. Press the Display button and it will turn off all the machine’s lights after 15 seconds. Furthermore, the unit (black plastic and metal in the shape of a tear drop) just looks great, almost sculptural, and not like a cheap piece of plastic electronics.
Fourth, the Sleep + Sound offers ten sounds, including meditation and white noise. My personal favorite is the Train sound. I find that it lulls me into thinking, first consciously and then not, that I am in a comfortable old-​fashioned sleeping car on a train going somewhere. My other favorites are the Rainfall and Ocean settings. I even use the Meditation setting when I am, in fact, meditating during the day.
Finally, the level of customer service here is outstanding. My first Sound + Sleep machine stopped functioning after more than three years of solid use. I emailed the company asking if they could fix it and received next-​day responses by telephone and email telling me that they were shipping me a replacement. Customer service like this is unheard of these days. These folks really are heroes to the sleep-​deprived.
Really, the only other competition out there, in terms of durability and function, is the Marpac white noise generator, which is a electro-​mechanical machine. The Sound + Sleep machine also generates a white noise (which, like the other sounds, can be adaptive to your home’s noise level), but does so much more else.
It even has a timer (with settings from a half hour to two hours, in 30 minute increments). I find that with the Sound + Sleep I am asleep long before the 30 minutes have passed.
Best sleep aid I’ve ever used. Most Highly Recommended.

My sound soother machine stopped working. Since it was a gift, I had no receipt. My husband called and found out their home base was close by. I stopped in at lunch, and they made the repair on the spot. Clearly, they are building excellent customer service into the whole relaxing experience. Thanks AST!!!

My Ecotones recently stopped working after 2 ½ years, well out of warranty. Ira in customer service gave me an email with some fixes to try and when those didn’t work, sent me a new/​refurbished machine at no cost to me! I can’t say enough good things about this kind of support — its just not something you come across these days. A great team of people!

I have terrible insomnia with one of those racing minds that won’t shut off without some kind of intervention. I hate sleep medication because it either quits working after two or three nights, or works too well and leaves me groggy. Natural remedies don’t work for me at all. I used a Timex T600B Clock Radio with Nature Sounds for years and while it worked in that it interrupted my raging brain enough to allow me to eventually fall asleep, the quality of sounds was beyond awful and ridiculously pattern intensive.
I recently relocated cross country and left the Timex behind in the trash pile. However, I quickly realized I needed a replacement sound machine ASAP. I really didn’t want another Timex so I began researching what all was out there and stumbled across the Ecotones Duet SOUND+SLEEP Machine by Adaptive Sound Technologies (AST). Wow, am I glad I did! This machine is simply AMAZING! Not only is the selection of «sound stories» vast (10 to choose from!), the quality is unbelievable and I have yet to detect any patterns. It also has a 4-​interval timer (30÷60÷90÷120 minutes) and even a button to turn off the indicator lights in case you’re ultra sensitive. And that’s just the basic functionality!
This is WAY more than just a sound machine. It is a piece of very elegant and sophisticated technological equipment. On top of all that I just mentioned, it also has a «Richness» setting that adds up to two levels of ambient sound additions to each sound story (for example, occasional birds and insect sounds in the Brook sound story) to make them even more realistic. It doesn’t stop there. It also has an «Adaptive» setting whereby it «listens» for external noise disturbances and automatically adjusts its sound volume to cover up the noise! UNREAL!
Aesthetically, it is very classy looking with its modern black-​and-​chrome teardrop design. It also has a small footprint compared to the rich, powerful sound it puts out. The ever-​thoughtful engineers at AST also ingeniously put the speaker on the top so that the sound radiates up and around, not just straight out in one direction like most front-​placed speakers. The only thing I wish is that it had an alarm clock on it.
I absolutely ADORE this machine and can’t recommend it highly enough! Do not waste time or money futzing around with the cheap Homedics or Conair models, or even the mid-​range Timex or Sony products. I checked them all out. Sleep sound is ALL that AST does and I found them to be unquestionably the best. At the time of this writing, the Amazon price is $ 99 with free shipping. An absolute steal! I got mine as a birthday gift, but I know my mom paid close to $ 150 for it and it’s been worth every penny! Honestly, can you put a price on a truly good nights’ sleep?