If your dreams of flying high above the clouds or winning the World
Series have ever been interrupted by the guttural sounds of your
partner's slumber, then a new anti-snore gadget could help you turn down
the volume of these nasal noises and turn up the quality of your beauty
sleep.
The aptly named "Silent Partner" snore patch addresses the sound,
rather than the cause, of snoring, according to Netanel Eyal, co-founder
of the startup Silent Partner. The patch, which has two thumbprint-size
parts that sit on either side of the nose and are connected through a
bridge over the nose,
detects snore sounds and emits a counter sound that cancels out the original snores, he said.
Around 45 percent of healthy adults snore at least occasionally and 25
percent are regular snorers, according to the American Academy of
Otolaryngology.
People snore for a variety of reasons,
from poor muscle tone in the tongue and throat to obstructions, like
mucus, in the nasal airways. And attempts to mute snore noises often
depend on the cause of snoring. [
5 Things You Must Know About Sleep]
For those who suffer from
sleep apnea,
a condition marked by multiple episodes of pauses in breathing, medical
intervention is typically needed. However, for people who snore for
other reasons, the Silent Partner device can restore tranquility to the
bedroom and "can help relationships get better," Eyal told Live Science.
To help reduce snore sounds, the Silent Partner uses active
noise-cancellation technology, which relies on the physics of sound
waves. Every sound is characterized by pressure waves, which have
specific amplitudes and frequencies, Eyal said. The amplitude of a wave
measures its height above its base position and the frequency measures
how many waves pass a point within a certain space of time.
A noise-cancellation device, like the Silent Partner, emits a
sound wave
with the same amplitude but an inverted phase to the original sound.
So, if the snore wave looked like a bumpy line, the counter sound would
overlay the snore wave with its bumps in between the bumps of the snore
line. As a result, the wave and counter wave combine to form a new sound
wave and the two effectively cancel each other out.
The Silent Partner is specifically designed to cancel snoring sounds,
Eyal said. Snoring sounds have their own frequencies and patterns, which
are
different from other sounds
like talking sounds. But, different snoring sounds often share some
unifying qualities, Eyal said, which make them universally acknowledged
as snores. The Silent Partner aims to reduce the sound of snoring by
capturing and countering as many varying snore sounds as possible.
The Silent Partner does not require training and works in real-time,
Eyal said. It uses a sensor on one side of the nose to detect snore
sounds. The device amplifies the snore noise in its own resonance
chambers on both sides of the nose, plugs the sound into its algorithm
and emits the counter sound from speakers on both side of the nose, Eyal
said. [
Top 10 Spooky Sleep Disorders]
The Silent Partner suppresses snore sounds better the farther away you
are from the snorer. However, Eyal said it is effective from distances
as close as 8 inches (20 centimeters).
The device can be worn in any
sleeping position and comes with medical-grade adhesives to keep it in place. "It should be secure" in any sleeping position, Eyal said.
Eyal and his team reached out to doctors for feedback on the Silent
Partner and have received positive reactions, he said. However, if there
are any suspicions of sleep apnea or a sleep disorder, it’s important
to contact a doctor, Eyal said. Plans for the next iteration of the
Silent Partner hope to be able to detect breathing patterns and
determine the likelihood of sleep apnea, Eyal said.
The Silent Partner
raised funds on the crowdsourcing site Indiegogo.
The project's original goal of $40,000 was surpassed by more than 655
percent, with a total of nearly $473,000 raised by the time the campaign
closed on Jan. 10, according to the company's Indiegogo page.
"This overwhelming response shows us it's important," Eyal said. He
expects to start shipping beta versions of the product in October, and
the company is aiming to have final versions ready for shipment in
November.