Sleep is a necessity, and missing out on it for whatever reason is never good.
That's the reason sleep tech has been a booming business for the past few years, with hundreds of gadgets, mattresses, and wearables that promise to track your sleep or help you improve it. Bose thinks it can bring something to the category by attacking what it knows best: sound, or in this case, noise.
In urban areas, noise is one of the most common reasons for losing sleep. White-noise devices for masking noise have been around for a long time, but they tend to be big, expensive, and not at all personal.
SEE ALSO:Sleeping in on the weekends might prevent an early deathBose thinks it has a better solution in its noise-masking sleepbuds. These buds are seriously tiny (smaller footprint than a penny) and are designed to be worn throughout the night. They don't pack Bose's trademark noise-cancellation tech per se, instead relying on the isolation of the rubberized wing tips and some preselected sounds (rustling leaves, a babbling brook, etc.) to mask any noise that might disturb your sleep.
One thing these tiny earbuds don'tdo: stream music or audio tracks of any kind. The soothing sounds are stored directly on the buds, and while there's an accompanying app, it's only to configure the product.
Sleep tech is a new category for Bose, so the company took a different approach to market. In late 2017, Bose launched an Indiegogo campaign for the sleepbuds. A rep for the company said this was an opportunity to get real consumer feedback before a commercial release. Just shy of 3,000 people received these pre-production units and while the number is not huge, the project got funding in just a few days.
Credit: jacob krol/mashableFrom these early users, the company garnered a bountiful amount of feedback. Customers shared thoughts on the design, bugs to squash, and, most importantly, if it was helping them sleep better. Bose is sending those early backers the final product for free as a thank you.
The sleepbud itself is tiny but packed with tech, including a circuit board, storage for the tracks, a transmitter, a rechargeable battery, and a laser-etched external antenna (just there for communication with your iOS or Android device, which acts as a controller). It’s also featherlight at 1.4 grams.
The sleepbuds will play sleep tracks that don’t entirely tune out the noise but rather muffle it. Whether it's a dog barking, screaming neighbors, or an all-night party that you didn’t get an invite to, the sleepbuds should mask it.
Credit: jacob krol/mashableI got a brief demo with them today, lying on a lounger that felt like a first-class airplane seat. Bose pumped in simulated sounds of snoring, noisy neighbors and street noise. Bose first fitted me with the proper ear tip; small, medium and large come in the box. The buds themselves also have a new proprietary ear tip as the fit needs to be snug. It felt as if I was prepping to go on stage, as they fit like in-ear monitors. And even with the sleepbuds inserted without a track playing, they manage to muffle the sound.
I would consider this piece to be a bonus and shows the attention to detail, but it by no means compares to active noise-cancellation technology. Once in your ears, they connect to the Bose Sleep App on your phone through Bluetooth LE. It is here that you can choose between 10 sleep tracks, like a waterfall or other soothing nature sounds. Bose says it will update the app with more tracks as time goes on.
The sleepbuds are equipped with an alarm that will wake you -- and only you -- up. You can snooze the alarm, but you need to do that on the phone.
Credit: Jacob Krol/MashableThe tracks were definitely calming and relaxing; plus they did do the job of pushing out the noises that can stop you from sleeping. The buds themselves fit very comfortably into the ear and will even work for those who sleep on their side, as they don’t stick out but instead sit in the canal.
Each sleepbud has 16-hour battery life, which should be enough for two nights of sleep. Additionally, the traveling case acts as a charger and stores an additional 16 hours of battery life for both buds.
I am pretty impressed with Bose's sleepbuds, and I think they serve as an innovative solution to getting more sleep. However, they also carry the trademark Bose price tag -- $249 would be a lot to pay for real earbuds, and these don't even play music.
However, there's also nothing else quite like them in the realm of sleep tech, so I can see why the Indiegogo campaign was so popular. I'm excited to put them to the test in a full review, and the wait shouldn't be long: the Bose noise-masking sleepbuds go on sale June 21 in the U.S. and Canada.
TopicsBose
(责任编辑：焦點)
There's a big piece of fake chicken stuck to this phone case
Austin mayor has the perfect response to man mad about women
People are pretending the floor is lava and no, you haven't traveled back in time
'Injustice 2' v.s. the worst Superman game of all timeWhyd voiceThere's a big piece of fake chicken stuck to this phone case
If the perfect smartphone case signals a bit about who its owner is, then this silicon fried chicken
...[详细]'Injustice 2' v.s. the worst Superman game of all time
Supermanfor the N64 is considered by many to be one of the worst games of all time. But, fortunately
...[详细]Snow is hard to come by in Australia, so this guy created his own
It's winter in Australia right now, but snowfall is difficult to come by unless you're in one of the
...[详细]The 'blood boy' doctor doesn't seeeeeeem like a vampire
The blood of America's teenagers supposedly has the power to make you young again. No, this is not t
...[详细]Uber's $100M settlement over drivers as contractors may not be enough
UPDATE: Sept. 7, 2016, 4:41 p.m. EDT
。 A ruling in a different case on Wednesday, Sept. 7 may have ch
...[详细]This guy wants to use tech to create a 'wizarding pub' in London
If you like 1) drinking in pubs and 2) the magical world of Harry Potter, you are most definitely in
...[详细]Dear smartphone companies, please give us smaller phones
Let's face it: Phones have gotten too large. Ever since the advent of the smartphone, the dimensions
...[详细]People are pretending the floor is lava and no, you haven't traveled back in time
Perhaps you remember, in days of yore, pretending that the floor was made of lava apropos of nothing
...[详细]Researchers create temporary tattoos you can use to control your devices
In the future, your tattoos could be much more than just ink designs. 。Scientists have created a new
...[详细]The NBA is a cold business, a story in 2 tweets
Early Wednesday morning, the Sacramento Kings took to Twitter to wish forward Anthony Tolliver a ver
...[详细]Aly Raisman catches Simone Biles napping on a plane like a champion
Sorry Warriors fans, Stephen A. Smith just cursed you
