Should I buy a sound machine or fan for sleep?

It depends on what matters most to you:

• Buy a fan if you sleep hot or like a steady airflow. A fan can help cool the room and gives you a natural mechanical hum.
• Buy a sound machine if your main goal is masking noise rather than cooling. They’re usually more portable, and many offer different sounds like white, pink, brown noise, rain, or ocean waves.

A sound machine can also be better if you want to target masking specific noises like barking dogs, sirens, or loud neighbors, because you can choose different sound profiles and volumes.

A good middle ground is a fan-style white noise machine like the SNOOZ or Yogasleep Dohm. These use a real fan inside the device to create a fan-like whoosh without blowing air directly on you.

If you’re deciding in one line: pick a fan for temperature, a sound machine for noise masking.