Definately need a fan. Not so much for the white noise effect, but for the circulation. In fact right now I have three fans blowing in my room (one directly at my pillow/face), plus an AC unit chugging away. I trace my fan obsession back to Oedipus. Not the love your mother part, but the fight your father part. My dad was always big on setting up window fans during the summer in these irritatingly elaborate aerodynamic schemes to get air through the house. “Screw that!”, I said. “I’m hot and sweaty. I just want it to blow on me and cool me off a little.” I think after a while I just got used to the feeling of a soft breeze while I sleep.
My husband needs the white noise machine, set on “spring rainshower” AND the ceiling fan on. My daughter, who is a regular princess-and-the-pea type when it comes to noise, has her air conditioner set on the fan setting every night.
This gets interesting when the heat kicks on. We all need our fans/white noise machines. We don’t live in a quiet area and the last time any of us slept like 8 year olds after an all day hike was, well, never.
Ceiling fan a must, I love the air movement. country noise a blessing.
But my hubby snores loader than a chain saw. Solution?
I wear soft ear plugs and sleep with no noise, or try to fall asleep before he gives up on the TV.
Discovered the benefits of white noise while living in an apartment facing a busy street. Used a box fan at first, but found out that ceramic heaters turned to just the fan setting are better, as the wind bothers me (I’m also one of those always cold types so if it’s a cold night I can use it to warm the room a bit and then set it back to fan before going to bed). And yes, I’m also addicted to white noise, which sorta has me worried, but I don’t uhh, lose any sleep over it. Heh.
But one thing I could never do is fall asleep with the TV on like some above posters said they could do. The noise has to be a steady blanket, and voices and music are just too erratic and staccato to do it for me…and ticking clocks - oy! The bane of my existence. Once had to put one in the refrigerator while I was crashing at a friend’s house…it was the only place I couldn’t hear it. Lucky for him (and the clock) that I had only been drinking lightly that night or it would have ended up in the middle of MacDougal Street!
Sorry I can’t answer the technical question of why white noise is so effective. Guess it would have to do with it having a certain frequency that’s easy for us to lock onto and that cancels out a lot of other intrusive frequencies, but that’s pretty much been said above, so I’ll shove off now.
I know where it started for me. Where I grew up, the house was about 100 yards (or meters) from the Highway. I-55, to be exact. It runs straight through Jackson, and I lived near it. Granted, it did get exciting when 18-wheelers hit that One Bump that existed and went BANGBAMBOOM as the trailer bounced. All that noise made it easy for me to get used to sleeping with it around. I’ve slept through Hurricanes, Tornados, Massive Thunderstorms, Wind Storms, Trees falling, everything but the end of the world, seemingly.
So, when we moved away from the highway, I had to get a fan. Works for me. My wife needs it too, so we are happy.
Here’s the odd thing. I’m a parent now, so I can still sleep through all that, but if one of my kids starts whining at 3am, I’m up.
I also sleep with the fan on, but it has nothing to do with noise. It’s air. I cannot stand still air.
If its a breezy night, I can leave the fan off and just open a window. Too bad it’s not that breezy at night very often.
Ah! Yes! I too, am a fan of a fan running while I slumber. But be fore warned! My sister was struck with Bell’s Palsy, and her Ear, Nose, and Throat doctor told her it may have been brought on because she slept with a fan on!
Yes, that’s what I was thinking of above when I mentioned that nerve disease tic dolereux, which may be the same as the Bell’s Palsy. All must be ware and not let anything blow directly on your face. I may suggest Quinsy too, and maybe the epizotics.
Bell’s Palsey is generally caused when there is pressure put on the 7th facial nerve at the point where the 7th facial nerve goes through the ear canal. Every cause of Bell’s Palsey is not known. It can be caused by trauma, or infection among other things. I don’t think that there has been any scientific study supporting the assertion that it can be caused by sleeping with a fan on.
After rereading my post I realize that “ear canal” was not the term I was looking. What I meant was “the hole in your skull by your ear where your auditory nerves go”. I don’t doubt that there is a better, mor accurate, term for this, but I can’t remember it, and I don’t feel like looking it up.
THAT’S what * we’re saying,* LEARN TO ADAPT, ** BrothaTJ!! ** 
I got one of these “Sound Spas” last year and now I absolutely cannot sleep without it. For the last few months I’ve had it set on Summer Night, which is basically crickets chirping (hey, it blocks out my neighbors). The other sounds are White Noise, Spring Rain, Mountain Stream and Ocean Waves.
The only setting I don’t use is called Heartbeat. The box shows a photo of woman cuddling a baby with a caption that says “Heartbeat: Comforts children to help them feel safe and secure.” Safe and secure? Everytime I hear this sound I picture a demon growling “get out!” I guess infants appreciate it more than I do.
AACK I already have adapted!! I can go both ways!! (OK that sounded bad…) My roommate claims he absolutely cannot sleep unless the fan is on. Survival of the fittest my friend, my kind will devour the weak.
ARGH :::tyrannosaurus rex posturing:::
Count me among the white noise crowd, too. It has nothing to do with what I’m used to, though, it has to do with the tinnitus that will drive me insane if my ears aren’t somehow distracted.
Maybe some of you have undiagnosed cases…
Uhh, aren’t you extinct, then?
Exactly! I omitted the fact the fan was located near the bedside and blew directly across her head (in the ear or on the face if turned on her side). Although this maybe antidotical, the doctor asked if she slept with a fan; was it on her right side; and was it very near the bed. All of which was absolutely correct!
You may not think that ‘there has been any scientific study supporting the assertion that it can be caused by sleeping with a fan on’ but correlations have to start somewhere before science even knows where to look for causes. No?
EXAMPLE: the Hunta virus was linked to field mice by the Navaho centuries before ‘Science’ discovered that field mice carried the virus!
Perhaps the E, N & T doctor has noticed a pattern? Isn’t that a bit o’ science in of it’s self?
We bought one of those white noise machines from Sharper Image. We use it to help drown out the snoring of one of the people in the bed, but I’m not saying who.
We’re just entering the Fanozoic Period. I’ve got a few million years to go yet. Beware.