Have you ever wished that your snoring partner had a volume dial so that you could turn down the sound and get a little shuteye? Everyone who has lived with a snorer has a couple of tricks up the old pajama sleeve, but a new device could be the end of the nasaly, nighttime nocturnes.
Say goodbye to sewing a marble in the back of your partner's P.J. top or waking him (or her!) up to turn over. The Silent Partner promises quieter nights and more restful sleep. At least for one of you.
The Cure for the Common Snore
Anti-snoring tricks and devices are anything but new. Some people keep a vaporizer in the room in the hopes that humidity will help curb snoring. Anti-snore pillows have a bit of an incline, and some promise to align the jaw more properly. Speaking of jaws, there's even a mouth device that's touted as the best way to keep the chainsaw sounds at bay.
Some devices and methods work, at least a bit. Silent Partner claims to be better, but it's got an unusual approach. It doesn't stop the snoring. Engineering.com says it creates a happy little barrier around the offender that prevents you from hearing it. The tiny set of noise-canceling nosephones look like a miniature set of saddle bags. They drape across the bridge of the nose, with a speaker resting on the left and right.
Engineering Behind Silent Partner
Noise-canceling headphones interrupt sound waves, which creates the dampening effect. Unlike passive devices that absorb sound through the use of foam and other materials, they make the sounds null and void. The displacement or silencing of noise got its first patent in the 1930s. Silent Partner takes the same theory and applies it directly to the nose.
When a snorer does what he does best, Silent Partner emits a counteroffensive. The two sound waves meet, and the snoring sound is made void, which means the partner of the snorer can sleep more peacefully. What it doesn't do it stop the actual snoring. So for people who have sleep apnea, the device might help anyone within ordinary earshot. But it won't stop the source or action of the snore.
Watch how it works in this video:
Right now, Silent Partner is found only through Indiegogo for a rather significant price tag, considering its size and the fact that this is its first widely-available iteration. There's a carrying case available, too, for those times when you or the one you love snores away from home.
Initial funding for Silent Partner went well. Very well, actually, as the developers had raised 656 percent of their goal by January. If all things go as planned, a newer device will be available in the future. It will feature an alarm for snorers with sleep apnea who stop breathing in the middle of the night. That should prove to be an interesting way to wake up.
Snoring is probably one of the world's oldest partner problems. One partner sleeps through the night, or at least appears to. Quality of sleep is often compromised for the snorer as well as the snoree. The other lies awake in bed listening to the dulcet tones of their partner's nasal cavities.
The Sleep Foundation says that if snoring is a real problem, a better solution is to see a doctor. But if it's just an occasional annoyance and there's no breathing lapse or gasping for air in the middle of the night, Silent Partner might be a good solution.
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