Rain Sounds – Sleep Ambiance is a collection of 13 “sounds”. I say “sounds” because each one is actually a looping rain track, as well as optional adjustable thunder noises and a background piano track. I turned the piano noise off because that’s not what I’m here for. The rain sounds clear and I can’t audibly hear it restart a loop so they’re either long or well edited. The thunder tends to be more of a crack than a rumble which is a shame. They let you adjust the overall volume when you pick a sound, as well as the thunder frequency (I don’t think it adjusts the thunder volume but it’s hard to tell since even at max there’s not constant thunder) and the piano noise volume. I would love an option to choose between thunder cracks and rumbles but it’s pretty customization.
The program is easy to use, utilizing sliders and pictures you tap on as well as clear names. The pause button and timer settings work just like you’d expect as well, and I didn’t have any issues using them. I ended up choosing “Rain on Sidewalk” as it sounded most like natural rain here. I fell asleep relatively quickly and had no stress dreams. I did wake up early and was pretty groggy but once I was up and moving I had enough energy to get a fair bit of work done in the morning. That energy petered out in the evening but that’s not surprising. This one really had me wishing I had speakers to plug it into as the sound is not as good with the phone laying down on the nightstand but I still enjoyed it.
Final Report: 8.2/10
Sound Quality: 8/10 (Very clear, almost real rain. The thunder cracks were too disruptive if I didn’t turn them down.)
Customization: 8/10 (Different sliders for the thunder and piano music were nice. Would’ve like the ability to alter intensity but was able to make do anyways.)
Variety: 8/10 (The ability to customize actually makes 13 tracks a lot more diverse than if they were all fixed.)
Accessibility: 10/10 (Easy to use, everything is sliders and push to play.)
Sleeping: 7/10 (I was groggy when I woke up and woke up early, but I did sleep.)
vchpb 