Q. Can you use in Shabbos a sleeping-aid sound machine that produces different rhythms such as the sound of the sea or a forest and is controlled by a timer? How about just white noise?
A. At the end of Eruvin (104a.) Ulah maintains that creating all kinds of noises is prohibited on Shabbos, even the ones that are not musical such as striking a door when using a doorknocker; Rava disagrees and only prohibits musical sounds. Remoh in Shulchan Aruch (O. H. 338: 1) rules that if it's a designated utensil for making noise it is prohibited. The reasons given are, that one may come to repair the instrument and transgress on "make bepatish" (Rambam, H. Sabbos 23: 4); it is uvdo dechol (doing things that do not fit the holiness of the Shabbos spirit) and also avsho milso, (it demeans Shabbos – Remo O.H. 252: 2). This according to many Poskim also applies to electronic devices or appliances that are left on prior to Shabbos or are placed on a timer (Minchas Yitzchok 1: 107, Shniras Shabbos Kechilchoso 42:43: n. 151 in regards to a radio etc.)
However Mishna Berura (ibid. 1) permits placing water on a utensil that drips and creates a pleasant sound, to help a sick person to sleep. Tzitz Eliezer (3: 16: 11) also permits in case of need for the ailing. See Igrois Moishe (O.H. 4: 70) that the forbidden level of noise is when it can be heard in an adjacent room.
Horav Shlomo Miller's Shlit'a opinion is that when needed as an aid for sleeping, it could be left on or placed on a timer if the controls are covered with tape. He suggested that white noise would be Halachakly better.
Rabbi A. Bartfeld as revised by Horav Shlomo Miller Shlit"a
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