EP0263124A1 - Anti-snoring device - Google Patents

Abstract

A device enabling a sleeper to be awakened from the first snoring, includes a microphone and an associated electrical circuit designed to react selectively to sound frequencies or to types of sounds particularly characteristic of snoring, and means controlled by said circuit, making it possible to wake the sleeper, when snoring is detected by said microphone, for example by producing an audible alarm signal in a headset that the sleeper wears in the ear.

Description

Title: "Anti-snoring device"

THIS INVENTION relates to a device for awakening a sleeping person as soon as he or she begins to snore, for example to avoid such snoring awakening a person sleeping nearby.

According to the invention there is provided a device for awakening a sleeping person as soon as he or she begins to snore, comprising a microphone and associated electrical circuitry arranged to respond select¬ ively to sound frequencies or patterns particularly characteristic of snoring, and means, controlled by said circuitry, for awakening a sleeping person when the sound of snoring is detected by said microphone.

The electrical circuitry may incorporate a filter or filter network interposed between said microphone and further circuitry associated with, for example, an alarm device, said filter or filter network being arranged to pass preferentially electrical signals of a selected frequency band or selected frequency bands to said further circuitry. Such further circuitry may be arranged to operate the alarm device when the magnitude of the signal transmitted through the filter or filter network exceeds a pre¬ determined threshold. The filter may comprise an electronic AC filter or, alternatively, the filter may comprise an acoustical filter or an electro- acoustical filter relying upon mechanical resonances in a resonating element. It will be appreciated that the device may incorporate sophisticated micro-electronic circuitry arranged, for example, to provide an indication that snoring is occurring only if the detected sound occurs at intervals consistent with the rate of breathing during sleep, thus minimising further the risk, already substantially reduced, by utilising a filter or filter network, that the sleeper will be awakened as a result of detection by the device of extraneous noise other than the noise of snoring. A further sophistication which may be adopted is that the intensity or perceptibility of the alarm signal produced by the device may be arranged to increase progressively, either continuously or stepwise, as the time for which the wearer has been snoring increases, so that if the wearer does not respond to the alarm signal as soon as snoring begins, the alarm signal increases progressively in intensity until he does.

The device is preferably a self-contained unit of the size and form of the earpiece of a modern hearing aid so that the user can insert the device in his ear before he goes to sleep. In this form, the device, when it detects the sound of snoring, is arranged to produce an audible alarm signal in the wearer's ear, the signal being appropriately selected to maximise its tendency to awaken the wearer. However, because the audible signal thus generated is supplied directly to the wearer's ear and because the body of the device acts itself to attenuate transmission of the alarm signal to the outside, the alarm signal can readily be made sufficiently unobtrusive to be highly unlikely to awaken a person sleeping nearby or otherwise to cause inconvenience to others.

In one form of the device, the device may simply comprise a microphone, sound transducer and an amplifier and filter interposed functionally between the two so that the alarm signal produced is simply an amplified version of the wearer's own snoring. In this instance, it may be unnecessary for the device to be conditioned to operate with any particular threshold, although even in this case, the device is preferably so arranged that low-level sounds are amplified substantially less than sounds of the intensity likely to be associated with snoring.

It is, of course, possible for other variations to be utilised. For example, the device may be arranged to apply some form of alarm signal other than an audible signal, for example, a tactile signal to some part of the wearer's body. The means for producing the alarm signal need not be incorporated in the same casing as the means for detecting snoring so that, for example, the microphone and the bulk of the electrical circuitry may be housed in a part of the device attached to the headboard of a bed with the connection between the alarm device and such circuitry being effected, for example, by a flexible electrical conductor, or even by way of a low-power radio link or the like.

Claims

1. A device for awakening a sleeping person as soon as he or she begins to snore, comprising a microphone and associated electrical circuitry arranged to respond selectively to sound frequencies or patterns particularly characteristic of snoring, and means, controlled by said circuitry, for awakening a sleeping person when the sound of snoring is detected by said microphone.

2. A device according to claim 1 wherein said circuitry incorporates a filter or filter network interposed between said microphone and further circuitry, said filter or filter network being arranged to pass preferentially electrical signals of a selected frequency band or selected frequency bands to said further circuitry.

3. A device according to claim 1 or claim 2 including alarm means arranged to generate an audible alarm when snoring is detected.

4. A device according to claim 3 which is of a size and form to be fitted in the human ear, the device being arranged to produce an audible alarm signal in the ear of the wearer, to awaken the wearer, when the device detects the sound of snoring.