Will work for some
This is one of those rare products I think where you just have to try it for yourself to see if it works for your particular circumstances.  When I first got the machine, I thought I was going to be disappointed.  It was smaller than I imagined, and not quite as loud as I imagined.  My particular problem involves rather loud noises in a neighboring room by someone who likes to scream late at night.  Putting the machine close to my head, the sound does indeed drown out for the most part that particular sound.  I do have to put it right above my head though in order for it to be loud enough to drown out other noises.  I have noticed however, it does not drown out all noises, particularly low bass sounds and things like footsteps and clicking sounds.  If your trying to drown out the noise of a TV... it might work fine whereas the sounds of someone playing lots of bass music it won't work.  In addition, whereas some people will find the sounds the machine makes to be soothing... others will find it more irritating than the noises they were trying to block.  It sounds almost exactly like one of those bathroom air vent fans.  So, in my particular case, while it drowned out the person who was screaming and I found the sounds relaxing, now the person who I was trying to drown out continuously screams about hearing my Sleepmate machine and so I'm forced to turn it off in the middle of the night and still get no sleep.
Rating: 4 stars