Posted July 14, 2005
I can't stand my next-door neighbor's taste in music, which tends toward the thumpa-thumpa-thumpa dance genre. I only ever hear it in the bedroom, at night (weekends particularly, for some reason) when I'm trying to get to sleep. It's never quite loud enough for me to complain, but the bass beat can feel like a form of Chinese water torture if my conscious mind happens to notice it and won't let go. Enter the new Tranquil Moments Sound Therapy System from Brookstone, which uses a solution you've probably already seen in older products: recordings of natural sounds (gentle rain, ocean surf, stream, etc.) to mask annoying noises. The difference with this baby, though, is that it has an exclusive "Sleep Enhancement" feature, which gradually slows the rhythm of the sound (the recordings are digital) to lull you to sleep. My favorite setting: Summer Night, which is, according to the instruction booklet, "a slowed down chorus of crickets combined with NASA-recorded sounds from Jupiter [which activate] Delta brainwaves and create a wonderfully calming sleep environment." As dorky as that sounds, it actually works. And there are 12 other options, several of which are specifically designed to sync with sleepy-time brainwaves. So while my neighbor is vogueing—or whatever it is she's doing over there—I'm dreaming of, well, crickets in outer space.

$99 at Brookstone, multiple locations, brookstone.com.

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• From the Jul 14, 2005 issue of New York