Exhausting every option to get a good night of shut-eye? Bose has a solution, adapting its in-earphones to help get you some zzz’s.
Earphones and headphones can be used for all manner of things, from music to podcasts and more, but depending on how solid your sleeping patterns are, you might also be relying on a pair to send you to slumber town. A pair of very small in-ears can last anywhere between three and nine hours of life, and that might just be enough to get you to sleep, provided you’re playing something calming, or even some white noise or the sounds of rain.
We all have little tricks that get us to sleep, and if you happen to be someone who struggles to snooze, even when it’s late, you might be reliant on one of these approaches, possibly playing it on a speaker so that your room feels like it’s a white noise generator.
Bose has been playing with a solution that might just get you there, and it’s one that it has even used with a study, testing it out with a part of the University of Colorado in the US, proving that its technology can help people fall asleep faster.
Normally known for audio products, Bose’s solution is an audio product, but it’s not one that works like Bose’s regular audio products. Called the Sleepbuds II, they’re a second-generation gadget that looks like a regular pair of truly wireless in-earphones, but yet work differently from any other pair.
While in-ears typically connect with a phone, tablet, or computer for whatever you want, Bose’s Sleepbuds specifically talk to the “Bose Sleep” app, storing sound from one of three categories in the app to lure you to sleep. There are 14 noise-masking tracks, 15 “naturescape” tracks, and ten developed for lowering stress and tension.
The Sleepbuds II earphones store ten tracks and can work without a phone, playing to quell noise, with the earbuds using a proprietary silicone tip design to not only hold in place, but to do so comfortably without any squeaking from when material rubs up against pillows and sheets.
They’re even sweat and water resistant at IPX4, meaning you can sleep with more than a few beads of sweat and they should still work, with up to 30 hours of battery life from the rechargeable case, though they should get you through a night of sleep before needing charging inside that case.
But there are no calls supported in these earphones, and none of your music. There are no podcasts or video playback or anything else regular earphones can do. Rather, they’re focused on one thing: sounds to get you to sleep, like that white noise generator a speaker can turn your room into.
And it’s something Bose’s research with the University of Colorado’s Anschutz Medical Campus found worked, with 86 percent of participants advising that the Sleepbuds II helped them fall to sleep faster, while 76 percent said they helped them stay asleep.
“Bose Sleepbuds II use advancements in our proprietary noise masking technology because covering sound — not cancelling it — is a better solution for sleeping,” said Steve Romine, Head Bose’s Health Division.
“You can’t duplicate the experience combining earbuds with apps, playing your music louder, or using earplugs and bedside machines — so millions of people are still suffering,” he said. “We never gave up on helping them, and that’s why we’re so
excited about Sleepbuds II.”
While Bose’s Sleepbuds II are more or less made for the purpose of sleeping, that’s not to say you couldn’t use a pair of earphones to emulate what they’re doing. It’s entirely possible you could fall asleep using a calming or noise-generating app and a pair of in-earphones, but Bose’s approach is to do it inside of a pair made specifically for this purpose, though it’s one that comes with a notable price tag.
At $379.95 in Australia, the Bose Sleepbuds II are a little on the exy side, but could just be the very thing to help you skip the sheep and collapse under the weight of your tired eyes. Frankly, this is one gadget we are excited to test, if only to see if it’s as indispensable as it sounds for folks who struggle to sleep.
