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Editor's note: This article is part of KSL's App of the Week, which features a different app with Utah ties each Thursday. Send tips for future articles to ddewey@ksl.com. SALT LAKE CITY — Some 50-70 million adults in the United States have sleep or wakefulness disorders according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and an app made by a Park City company is hoping to help those who struggle to sleep soundly.
Sleep Genius is an app that uses a matrix of sounds and music that incorporate neurosensory algorithms to help a person relax, fall asleep and stay asleep.
"With our team of composers and music producers we actually composed and recorded music specifically designed to induce and maintain sleep and improve sleep quality," said Alex Doman, co-founder of Sleep Genius. "Basically, we rock the brain to sleep with sound."
The idea started when NASA commissioned Dr. Seth Horowitz , a neuroscientist, to research the vestibular system, which includes parts of the inner ear and brain that control balance, to see what kind of impact it has on sleep and if it could be harnessed to improve sleep regulation in space. Horowitz and his team found that certain movement, like rocking a baby or riding on a train, induced sleep and he hoped to use sound to trigger the same effect.
"Horowitz worked to develop a set of what are called neurosensory algorithms that would use very low-frequency sound, modulated between the left and the right ears to induce sleepiness," said Doman.
Doman and Horowitz combined their teams and created the app.
"Also incorporated within (the audio) are signatures of pink and brown noise which lower heart rate and slow respiration and then provide a filter to help block out ambient sound in the environment," said Doman.
The app can play music for 90 minutes to help you fall asleep or there are modes for 180 minutes or continuous play to help you fall asleep and stay asleep. The is even a gentle alarm to gradually wake you up in the morning.
"Those are specially composed music as well. They are what we call revive cycles," said Doman. "Through a musical composition and an algorithm of sound, they are designed to gently take you out of any sleep state gradually so you are not buzzed out of bed by a blaring alarm clock."
The music works best if you wear headphones, but it will still do the trick by just simply playing it from your smartphone, Doman said.
The app is $5 and is available on iOS,Android and Samsung's Gear Fit and Gear 2 smartwatches. There is also a premium in-app purchase for another $5 that gives a person more sleep programs that have different styles of music, additional revive cycle alarms, a relaxation program and a power nap feature.
There is also a separate Sleep Genius Baby app available.
