Nocturne

Nocturne began with its founder, Russell, and his own tinnitus. The maker says ordinary sound machines could not adequately mask the high-pitched ringing he heard at night, which led him to ask whether changing the pitch of the masking sound would work better. The name comes from the musical term for a piece written for the night, and the stated aim was to keep only the features a sound machine needs and drop the rest.

Tunable masking

According to the campaign, Nocturne pairs patent-pending technology with full-range equalizer sliders. Raising the treble is meant to cover high-pitched tinnitus, while boosting the midrange is meant to fill in sounds such as a neighbor sneezing. The maker positions this fine-grained control as the product's core advantage over sound machines it describes as either too limited or overloaded with features.

There are five sounds, which the maker says were recorded by field recording artists: Waterfall (pink noise), Stream, Ocean surf, Rain and Evening forest. The default pink noise spreads equal energy across each octave, which the campaign presents as a neutral base for EQ adjustments. Audio comes from two speakers, with tuning by sound engineer Bob Young, who the maker says previously worked on iPod development at Apple.

Designed for a dark bedroom

• No smartphone or app required; all functions are on the device itself
• Indicator lights switch off automatically after 3 seconds without input
• All controls available from a remote
• Natural birch frame, muted colors and rounded edges
• Sliding speaker screen switches between a minimal look and an exposed control panel
• Can stand on a stand, rest on a book or mount on a wall

On the production side, the campaign says the first prototype with full cosmetics and functionality was completed last summer, followed by design changes for manufacturability and firmware fixes. The team plans to begin tooling and parts sourcing, with stress testing, pilot runs and reliability testing. Shipping is charged separately at fulfillment, and the maker says any duties for backers would be capped at up to $20 per unit. Suppliers have facilities in China, South Korea and the US, with Taiwan expected soon.