If there is any discernible pattern to noise it keeps me awake (talking, music FUCKING STUPID MOTHER-FUCKING NIGHT BIRD). I use a noise machine with white noise or fan sounds running. Creates a lovely sound blanket from that mother-fucking night bird.
As a kid I rarely listened to anything, these days I put on Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy radio show, just go bacl to the start I've heard up to the third phase often but not the further ones as much. In the more recent past it may have been a Harry Potter (UK) book or again Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy voiced by Stephen Fry. Guess that's a lot of UK stuff considering I'm Canadian, but Fry has such a nice voice to drift off to.
As a kid I usually listened to CDs from the series "Was ist Was". Originally it's a science book series for about 10-15 year old with topics like weather, the sun, mathematics, pirates or vulcanos. The series usually goes pretty in depth for a series more or less aimed at kids.
Apparently it's a translation from the series "How and Why Wonder Books".
For anyone interested: https://de.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Was_ist_was
Anyway, I enjoyed listening to the audio versions of the books (they were moderated by characters).
Later on I just listened to general music.
Nowadays I do not listen to anything. Sometimes to self recorded sea noises from vacation.
I uploaded them as well :)
-> https://on.soundcloud.com/RD6PW
as an adult, science podcasts, movie directors commentaries (ridley scott, francis coppola highly recommend), select rain sounds and currently the watergate senate hearings
I don't fall asleep listening to anything but my fan, but reading knocks me the fuck out most nights. Sometimes I can't make it through a paragraph before catching myself with my eyes completely closed.
Vin Scully(Dodgers), Dick Engberg(Angels, Rams), Chick Hearn (Lakers) and Jiggs McDonald(Kings) on my 9 volt transistor radio well hidden under the covers. So well hidden that it ended up switched off and in the drawer by morning.
Breeze, rustle of leaves, sounds from birds and insects. Fan if no breeze.
Silence, it was usually my pose rather than the background noise that affected sleep. When I sleep, I often look like I was carried out of the chamber of secrets.
I had different audio cassette of Airwolf where they told the story from the episodes in audio form and in German. I would listen to them when going to sleep.
Today I fall asleep seconds after I hit the mattress because I'm so exhausted every day, no time to listen to anything :D
I listened to piano music from the Suzuki method. The Suzuki thing is to treat music like a language, so immerse young kids in it when their brains are young and mushy.
Now I fall asleep to nothing most often, sometimes to a podcast or to an episode of a show I don't really care about; something old and formulaic like Columbo.
There was a particular easy listening station when I was a kid that played 60s, 70s, and 80s folk, soft rock, motown, and other singer-songwriter stuff that helped me deal with the anxiety of fighting parents and the deathly silence in between.
These days I listen to old episodes of MST3K or Rifftrax on YT, Best of the Worst, or one of the myriad of "oldies playing quietly in the next room and it's raining" that you can easily find.
My mind still races at night. I eventually made a playlist to recreate that old radio station vibe. It doesn't hit the same way it used to.
What music were you listening to at the most happy/content period or even just moment in your life? I know sometimes that can be dificult but just indulge me for a sec
Gothic and symphonic metal became and remain a huge part of my listening routine. It hit at just the right time in early adulthood. I listen to a moderately diverse set of genres but those fun, dark, and catchy styles have always brought me joy.
Is there a piece or work like that which makes you feel content thats also conducive to sleep in your estimate? Like something that doesnt stimulate too much but puts you at ease and gives your mind something to wear itself down with to the point its a smooth and enjoyable transition to sleep?