How Well Do You Sleep? Apple's New Beddit Sleep Monitor Helps You Track Your Zzz's

Smaller, lighter and more powerful version of the Beddit Sleep Monitor v3.5

Image via Apple

Image via Apple

Apple started selling a new version of the Beddit sleep monitor that the company acquired in 2017, this past week after receiving FCC clearance for the product. The new model version 3.5 retails for the same price of $149.95 and resembles the prior model but is smaller and lighter and still at 2 mm thin. The sleep monitor consists of a flexible sensor strip that you place under the sheet on top of the mattress to track sleep-related data when you lie down for sleep. 

Data collected by the Beddit sleep monitor includes:

• sleep time and efficiency

• heart rate

• respiration

• temperature

• movement

• snoring

• room temperature

• room humidity

A user of the monitor can view data through the new Beddit 3.5 app or by using the Health app on an iPhone or iPad. The app syncs with HealthKit. The new version is compatible with iPhone 5s or later with iOS 12 or later as well as all Apple Watch models with watchOS 4.3 or later. It is conceivable that Apple might introduce these features directly into the next Apple Watch model as the smartwatch becomes increasingly a useful device for health and fitness monitoring.

Apple’s Patent for New Smart Headphones Can Detect How They Are Worn

Just by listening to a user’s voice, technology in Apple’s new headphones can help you ensure that you never put on your headphones the wrong way again.

Beats headphones on the Apple Store

The new headphone technology will be able to detect how the headphones are being worn, solving the problem that some users have of wearing the headphones the wrong way. Using an array of new microphones, the audio accessory will be capable of switching channels automatically.

Image via Apple

Addressing a Common Problem: Putting on Headphones the Wrong Way

In the patent application published on November 8th of this year at the United States Patent and Trademark Office, Apple’s team clearly describes the new technology’s purpose: "System and method for automatic right-left ear detection for headphones." The new headphones can thus detect how the person is wearing the headset, automatically readjusting so that the left-channel audio will play out of the left-hand ear cup and the right-channel audio out of the right-hand ear cup. At the same time, the headphones themselves are not labeled with left and right designations in the design or direct labeling like other manufacturers have chosen to do.

The new technology consists of a set of five microphones placed strategically around each earcup - front, back, top, below to the left of the earcup and one inside towards the user’s ear. The technology listens to the user’s voice, checking the volume and thus figuring out which edge is closest to the person’s mouth and thus determines the orientation of the headphones. After the orientation is determined, the audio signal is then fed into each of the ear cups appropriately.

Image via Apple

Another benefit of having multiple microphones is eliminating external noise when a person wearing the headset, makes calls or voice commands. Having five microphones in each ear cup of a pair of headphones would make it easier to isolate a person’s voice from background noise. In addition to making clearer phone calls, the technology would also help Siri better understand voice commands in varying surroundings. Apple has also filed a prior patent in October, "Electronic Devices with Configurable Capacitive Proximity Sensors," for proximity sensor electrodes in the earcup to hep determine the ear’s presence and shape to figure out if it is the left or right ear. Interestingly enough, the new technology can be used in a pillow to help figure out the way a person is sleeping.

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Beats headphones on the Apple Store

Dual Mode Technology: Speaker on the Fly

Apple has been working on several headphone improvements, ranging from its patent on “Spatial Headphone Transparency” which adjusts an audio feed to sound like it is coming from a person’s surroundings instead of headphones. Another idea for a headphone that can function as a speaker has also been proposed called a “dual-mode” headphone as well as headphones that have sensors useful for healthcare and sports fitness monitoring. This next-generation headphone design can transform a stereo loudspeaker automatically, offering new technology integrations for potential EarPods, AirPods or Beats models in the future.

Image via Apple

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Image via Apple

While Apple proactively files patents for many technology ideas, the company does not always necessarily develop these ideas into full-fledged products. However, headphones are potentially different given Apple’s keen interest in audio from iTunes to Apple Music, HomePod, Apple TV and now Apple’s own movie and TV shows. Well known industry analyst Ming-Chi Kuo also estimated in 2017 that Apple would sell 28 million AirPods or more this year.