Software Detects Snoring

For the 80 percent of people who are in denial over their nighttime chainsaw snoring, Snoring U has an app to show how bad the situation is. Snoring U is a $5 application you can download from the Internet for your smartphone or tablet. The app won’t only monitor your snoring lows and highs during the night; it will record them for playback, and give you an electronic nudge by vibration or prerecorded sound if the snoring gets out of hand. Snoring U hopes to change the way people sleep, not only by reminding them to roll over or change position, but also by providing a detailed readout of their night’s sleep that can be handed over to a doctor or sleep lab to interpret. Built by a sleep specialist physician, a high-tech engineer and a seasoned telecom businessman, Snoring U was only created in the beginning of 2012 but has already enjoyed 100,000 downloads despite having no formal advertising in place. The diagnostic power of the app was developed by Dr. Naveh Tov, a specialist in internal pulmonary and sleep medicine at the Bnei Zion Hospital in Haifa. The device needs to be turned on and sitting no more than one meter from the snorer’s head, with the app opened (you can set your phone to airplane mode if you are worried about the cellular radiation nearby). It will begin to look for patterns in the user’s sleep, indicated by noises such as snoring. Able to filter out a second snorer in the room, the app can be set to be as sensitive as one wishes. (Israel 21c)