It naturally identifies and terminates episodes of snoring and pauses in breathing while you sleep.
RestBud’s™ sensors and microphone work in combination to collect data regarding your oxygen levels, breathing patterns, heart rate, and other variables. This information is transmitted wirelessly to a mobile-based software, which monitors your sleep for pauses in breathing and/or loud snoring.
When a sleep disordered breathing event occurs, the application wirelessly sends “whisper-like” audio signals to the unit’s earbud. These stimuli restart healthy respiration without waking you or those around you. Therefore, we refer to them as Whispers Without Waking.
Over time, adaptive technologies begin to recognize your personal breathing patterns and adapt to improve effectiveness and minimize disruptions.
Upon waking, you are also provided with a Restigraph™ Personal Sleep Report™ to monitor your sleep health improvements over time.
A sleeping brain never stops listening. A portion of it continues to analyze sounds during sleep to determine whether there is a threat in our environment. If a sound requires further interpretation, the cortex will wake up in a fight or flight reflex, accompanied by a natural release of epinephrine (aka Adrenaline®). This reflex is a natural way to restart breathing and stop snoring – but it also wakes you up.
The audio signals used by RestBud™ are calibrated to “tease” the brain into responding without this fight-or-flight reflex, chemical release and accompanying disturbance. Whispers continue, each one different and slightly louder, until the event ends. Adaptive technologies then adjust over time to deliver the whispers you need, with the least disruption to your sleep cycles.
The term “pauses in breathing” is simply used to describe a brief occurrence in which respiration stops. Most often attributed to Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA), these breathing pauses typically last between 10 to 20 seconds. They can occur up to hundreds of times a night, jolting you out of your natural sleep rhythm. As a consequence, you spend more time in light sleep and less time in the deep, restorative sleep you need to be energetic, mentally sharp, and productive the next day.
Most snoring stops when the snorer moves from sleeping on their back to their side. RestBud™ is equipped with an accelerometer sensor that monitors sleeping positions and movements. When the device identifies that you are snoring it gradually sends Whispers Without Waking™ signals until it detects a change in position and terminates the snoring.
RestBud™ users have the ability to adjust the volume and length of time that snoring is allowed before the device responds to these events. For example, you can set your RestBud to move you off your back after 75 seconds of snoring.
In addition, the adaptive learning technologies integrated into the RestBud compile statistics as to which sleeping positions trigger snoring events. If this data shows that it is advantageous to sleep on one side or the other, it will encourage you to do so.
When you sleep on your favored breathing side for more of the night, fewer pauses in breathing will occur. This will ultimately lead to better sleep efficiency and less stress on the body while it is trying to rest.
Usually sleepers cycle through five stages of sleep. 1, 2, 3, 4 and REM (rapid eye movement) sleep.
(Graphic showing the basic sleep stages)
In order to end pauses in breathing, RestBud’s™ audio stimuli gently shift you to a lighter level of sleep. For example, from stage 3 to stage 2.
That transition, most commonly referred to as an arousal, is sufficient for the sleeping brain to recognize that, in spite of the body’s self-generated stimulus signals to breathe, no fresh air is entering the lungs.
The brain responds by either restoring muscle tone to your collapsed airway, stimulating you to change sleep position, or by prompting you to eliminate your current barrier to breathing.
In most occurrences, no. An arousal is not necessarily an awakening. RestBud’s™ technology aims to promote a non-cortical arousal lasting less than 3 seconds (as determined via an EEG). This slight shift in sleep depth allows you to respond without waking up.
Our white papers include an in-depth analysis of the implications of this approach. Read those research findings here.
Yes, both the RestBud™ and our Whispers Without Waking™ software have undergone successful initial proof-of-concept testing. Our results mirrored and expanded upon published, peer-reviewed scientific studies from world re-known sleep medicine researchers. These studies used “whisper-like” sounds to terminate episodes of snoring, and pauses in breathing, to maintain blood oxygen levels above 94%.
The scientific studies conducted by these independent researchers concluded that low amplitude acoustic audio tones produce non-cortical micro arousals of less than three (3) seconds duration that safely terminate pauses in breathing – without waking the subject up or worsening day time sleepiness.
“Tones delivered relatively early and late in the apnea were equally likely to be associated with resolution of the apnea.”
“These data indicate that transient arousal, induced by non-respiratory stimulation, influences the resolution of obstructive apneas during sleep…the tendency for the stimulus to resolve the apnea within 2 s of the tone… the current study appears to be able to influence respiration consistent with termination, or early resolution, of obstructive apneas in patients with OSA.”
“Furthermore, such non-respiratory afferent stimulation appears to be able to influence apnea resolution without involving ascending arousal systems. Resolution of the apnea after stimulation was generally associated with qualitatively increased submental EMG compared with the EMG during the apnea whether electrocortical arousal occurred… suggesting a similar mechanism of response to tones irrespective of cortical involvement.”
“The current findings suggest that strategies of induced arousal, at an intensity level stimulating respiration while avoiding recruitment of the ascending arousal system and its potential effects of sleep disruption, could have potential application as a therapeutic modality.”
Effect of induced transient arousal on obstructive apnea duration
R. C. Basner, E. Onal, D. W. Carley, E. J. Stepanski and M. Lopata
“The present findings do suggest that it may be possible to significantly modulate respiratory drive via nonrespiratory afferent stimulation without causing significant sleep fragmentation or restriction.”
“This may have potential therapeutic implications for disorders such as sleep-related hypoventilation and sleep apnea syndrome. In fact, we have recently demonstrated that AS (audio stimulation) with or without AR (EEG arousal) can shorten the duration of apnea in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome…”
Respiratory and Arousal Responses to Acoustic Stimulation
Robert C. Basner; Ergün Önal; Melvin Lopata; Robert Applebaum; and David W. Carley
For more information regarding this research, please visit our white pages.
Yes, the RestBud™ will not work without our Whispers Without Waking™ application. The intelligence of the device lies within the processing power of your smartphone, so a subscription to our software is a requirement for functionality.
Bear in mind that medical technologies to treat breathing disorders are often very expensive. For example, insurance companies generally only cover a percentage of the costs of CPAP machines or Mandibular Advancement Devices used to treat diagnosed Obstructive Sleep Apnea – despite FDA approval of those treatment options.
The retail costs of these devices are boundless. The Provent EPAP costs approximately $700/year. The Apnicure OPT costs $1400 plus an additional $200/year. The Inspire HGNS costs $30,000.
Considering all that RestBud™ delivers, it is a great value despite these recurring fees.
Not at all. Our primary audience is actually the sleep partners of those who snore! They are often the ones’ who suffer from the effects of snoring most. They may also be the ones most concerned by the pauses in breathing they witness when they are awake.
About 90 million individuals in the U.S. snore and it is estimated that over half of them may suffer from undiagnosed Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA). Use of the RestBud™ by these individuals may potentially prevent the onset of illnesses caused by decades of undiagnosed pauses in breathing. Restigram™ Personal Sleep Reports™ developed by the RestBud™ may also encourage undiagnosed OSA patients to seek further medical treatment.
The most common symptoms of OSA include Excessive Daytime Sleepiness (EDS), morning headache, cognitive issues, and fatigue. However, it is estimated that half of all undiagnosed OSA sufferers do not exhibit these symptoms.
OSA does tend to get worse as you age. Also, the morbidities associated with OSA (diabetes, pulmonary & heart disease, cognitive deficits, etc.) can take decades to develop. It is important to be diagnosed and initiate treatment as early as possible.
No, the RestBud is not an approved diagnosis tool for OSA or other sleep disorders. However, excessive pauses in breathing or snoring episodes reported by the device may indicate a need for further investigation. If you are concerned about your nighttime breathing health, please contact your physician for advice or treatment.
No, it treats snoring and pauses in breathing. The device is not a diagnostic tool and WhisperSom™ cannot make medical claims in the U.S. without proper testing and approval by the FDA.
No, our prototype has already undergone proof of concept testing and we have begun designing the initial production units. RestBud utilizes simple hardware / software engineering designs and common off-the-shelf (COTS) components. These basic components will combine to interact with our proprietary sleep software. Indeed, the most difficult design element of the RestBud™, the Restimetry Pod – the “heart” of the device – is near design completion.
We expect to begin shipping early orders in January 2017.