Say what you will about Bose creating overpriced products, but it’s hard to deny that the company’s Quiet Comfort series of noise cancelling headphones are some of the best at what they do, and are typically recommended for those who travel on planes and want to drown out the background noise.
This is why it doesn’t really surprise us to learn that Bose has since launched a pair of smart earbuds that they’re calling the Bose Sleepbuds. However what’s interesting about these earbuds is that for such a big company like Bose, they have chosen to launch it on crowdfunding platform Indiegogo. The company claims that this is to allow customers to try out the prototype and give feedback, presumably before it is launched in earnest.
So what are the Sleepbuds? These are earbuds designed to help improve your sleep. In concept it works similarly to noise cancellation headphones, where the Sleepbuds will help block out common night-time noise disturbances through noise-isolating eartips and also through Bose engineered masking sounds.
It also comes preloaded with soothing sounds that will help make it easier to fall asleep as well, although whether or not you’re the type that can fall asleep with something in your ear is another story. It can also be programmed to wake you up, and because it is in your ear, the alarm won’t wake up the person you’re sleeping next to.
As The Verge points out, the Bose Sleepbuds used to exist under a different name, “Hush”, before it was acquired by the company. Several changes have since been made to the device, but at its core it still attempts to solve the same problem. Unfortunately at it stands the Sleepbud prototypes have been completely sold out. There is no word on when Bose plans on launching them for the public, but it could be a while.