The blast of an alarm clock ringing through your room can be unpleasant to wake up to first thing in the morning, and that loud and annoying noise can tick you off before you’ve even stepped out of bed. It’s no secret, though, that the effectiveness of alarm clocks rests in their loud, obnoxious ringing. So what if there was a way to silently and calmly rise out of sleep?
California-based startup SmarterWakeUp has developed a new kind of alarm clock, called the ‘SilentWakeUp’, which is wearable and uses vibrating pulses, instead of a loud horn or music, to wake a sleeping person.
The little gadget, measuring 2 x 1.2 x 0.4-inches, sticks to the body using medical-grade adhesive pads. They can remain sticky for up to seven uses, and the company suggests placing them on the chest or forearm for the best results.
10 minutes before the alarm is meant to go off, it will start pulsating slowly before getting more intense. And depending on how deep a sleeper you are, you can set it between three different vibration levels.
This lets the sleeper slowly rouse out of their dreams, gently and quietly. It silence means others around you, like the other person in your bed or others in neighboring rooms, won’t have their slumbers disrupted.
The startup adds that deaf and hard-of-hearing users may benefit from the noiseless alarm clock.
SilentWakeUp remains on Kickstarter mode, and it could sell for US$85 if all goes well.