Snore Circle is a snoring aid developed by VVFly, a Shenzhen-based technology company. (photo... [+]
It looks like a Bluetooth earphone, but actually it's not. It's a smart snoring aid that transmits beeps and vibrations into a snorer's ear to stop snoring when it detects it.
The product is called Snore Circle manufactured by VVFly, a technology startup based in Shenzhen, China. The CEO, Johnson Luo, who is also a snorer, said that the device doesn’t wake the snorer up, but just irritates the snorer enough to change position and stop snoring. The beeps and vibrations sent by the device vary in 54 forms according to the seriousness of the snoring.
The device doesn't wake people up, according to the comments on VVFly’s online store on Chinese online retailer
“My wife said the frequency of me snoring is much lower now, and that she can finally have a good night's sleep. I think I’ve found the right thing,” a customer praised.
“I’ve just used it for two days. In general it feels good, at least the device itself is not complicated to handle,” another customer wrote.
“My wife said my snoring isn’t that strong and annoying now, but I don’t feel quite good. First, my ear hurts. Second, I feel it has side effects on me — I feel a bit dizzy, and I have to stick to one sleeping position for the entire night because I don’t want to press the ear the device is attached to,” a customer complained on the website.
Luo said that if one doesn’t wear it correctly, the device might press the ear when the user lies on the same side.
Professor Li Taoping, director of the Respiratory and Sleep Research Center at Guangzhou Southern Medical University, said that snoring results from various causes, such as having narrower air passages, being overweight or out of shape, use of certain medicines, excessive drinking or smoking, and sleeping in poor positions. As a result, different methods and tools have varying influence on different people. That is why the users of Snore Circle have such different experiences from the device.
Snoring aids aren’t new, though most of them are mouthpieces, CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machines, chin straps or nose strips. Snore Circle is the first ear-bound device of its kind. It sells at around $39, much cheaper than CPAP machines ($500), but more expensive than mouthpieces ($14), chin straps ($10) and nose strips ($16).
Snore Circle is only available in mainland China and Hong Kong for now, but the company is seeking to expand to foreign markets. Around 35% of the population in China snore, according to Professor Li.
What is also special about the Snore Circle is that it has Bluetooth that can send data to its mobile app, also of the same name, which can track and record one’s sleeping quality and snoring reduction.
Johnson Luo, CEO of VVFly, uses Snore Circle frequently. His own page of the mobile app shows the... [+]
Professor Li said that there haven’t been clinical tests done with chin straps, nose strips or Snore Circles so far. The tools typically prescribed by doctors to treat snoring are mouthpieces and CPAP machines, which unfortunately often go hand in hand with invasive operations.
