SleepLoop (device for improving sleep quality)

• Sleep Improvement Devices

History

2022: Device announcement

In early April 2022, the Swiss Higher Technical School of Zurich introduced a wearable SleepLoop device that reproduces certain sounds to improve deep sleep. The first clinical trial showed that the device is effective, but not to the same extent for all.

The SleepLoop system consists of a bandage on the head, which is put on before bedtime and sleep in it throughout the night. Dressing contains electrodes and microarray, which constantly measure activity of sleeping person's brain. Data are analyzed autonomously in real time on a microchip using special software (software). As soon as a sleeping person has slow waves in brain activity that characterize deep sleep, the system gives a short sound signal. This helps synchronize neuronal cells and amplify slow waves. The uniqueness of the solution is that the sleeping person does not realize this sound during deep sleep.

Wearable device has been released to improve sleep quality

Researchers from the Swiss Higher Technical School of Zurich and the University Hospital of Zurich, led by a team in Caroline Lustenberger's neural movement control laboratory, have already conducted clinical trials of the device. It began to be used in clinical practice.

During the study, participants between the ages of 60 and 80 were equipped with a SleepLoop system that they had to manage independently at home. The system is designed so that even users with little technical experience can work with it independently. In the course of research, the system has proven itself well, as scientists inform. The subjects wore the device each night for four weeks, with two weeks of auditory stimulation carried out nightly and no stimulation for the next two weeks. Neither the subjects nor the researchers knew which two weeks the auditory signals were sent and which ones were not. The results of the study of 16 participants showed that in most subjects it is indeed possible to amplify slow waves with auditory signals during deep sleep. However, individual differences were significant: some subjects responded very well to stimuli, while others responded minimally or did not respond at all.

As of April 2022, a subsidiary of Tosoo AG is working on further development of the device and preparing it for entry into the clinical market. It is already clear that the device will not be freely available in pharmacies, but only by prescription of a doctor. According to technology developer Walter Karlen, the use of the device should be carried out for medical reasons and under the supervision of a doctor. Karlen added that this is a medical device, not just a wellness consumer product that can be ordered through Internet when you have trouble sleeping.^[1]

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