Ozlo Sleep, a new sleep and audio technology company, said Tuesday that it’s launching earbuds designed for better rest, with features that include noise masking, audio streaming via Bluetooth, and sensors that can detect when you’ve fallen asleep.
Ozlo Sleepbuds are part of a 30-day Kickstarter campaign that started Tuesday, so they’re not available to the general public yet. There’s no word on when they will be exactly, but the company said the general presale should come before the holiday season. The retail price will be $299.
Ozlo Sleep was co-founded by three people who worked at Bose, maker of the now-discontinued Bose Sleepbuds. The company uses acquired and licensed technology from Bose in the new Ozlo Sleepbuds.
Brian Mulcahey, one of Ozlo’s co-founders, said the new product was made, in part, based on two consumer notes they got back about Bose’s product: There was no audio streaming and there were no sensors to give you information about how well you were sleeping. (The Soundcore Sleep A10 Earbuds by Anker have some of these features, like Bluetooth streaming and sleep monitoring.)
The Ozlo Sleepbuds use passive noise-canceling to help block out nearby sound and you can choose from several noise-masking tracks for consistent sounds that can lull you to sleep. Bluetooth connectivity allows the Sleepbuds to function as headphones so you can stream your own music. The battery for audio lasts up to 10 hours. But what’s particularly neat is that you can toggle between the two modes. Ozlo co-founder N.B. Patil said wearers can “switch between streaming content and masking content, based on their choice.”
This means you can program the sleep buds to play music for an hour, then switch to a noise-masking sound to play the rest of the night. Or you’ll be able to set the Sleepbuds to play music until the sensors attached to the earbuds detect that you’ve fallen asleep, based on metrics like respiration rate and movement.
“The product is designed to help people go to sleep and stay asleep,” Patil said.
