A pillow to pause the snores

A high-tech solution may be at hand to mute the bedtime bugler.

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At first glance, the issue of snoring may not appear to be a life-threatening health issue.

But you’d be ignoring the ever-present risk of homicide from a long-suffering spouse, such as that of your Back Page scribbler.

Likening the nocturnal nasal emissions to a chainsaw mercilessly grinding through a forest of damp cardboard, the life-partner of multiple decades has often opined that no jury would ever convict her once the audio-taped evidence was aired in court.

So it is with an air of self-preservation that we report on a potentially less dramatic solution to combating the horrors of night-time “nose metal”.

A South Korean start-up called 10Minds says it has combined AI learning technology with an inflatable airbag to come up with the “Motion Pillow” (please visit the website, it’s quite something) a device which the company claims reduces snoring in more than 90% of users, according to the results of clinical trials.

The pillow works by first listening to the user’s snoring patterns and building up a sound profile. Once that’s done, the device, upon detection of offending noises, employs the airbag inside the pillow to physically reposition the snorer’s head and, hopefully, mitigate the problem. If the intervention is indeed successful, the pillow then deflates back to its original configuration.

Critically, because the pillow is programmed to respond to only the user’s snoring, the device won’t be activated by the (highly unlikely, ahem) event that someone else in the bed might also start snoring.   

While there is, so far, precious little in the way of independent reviewing of whether the high-tech pillow is as effective as it’s creators claim, the company does point to the fact that it was a  Consumer Technology Association Innovation Awards Honoree in 2020, 2022 and 2023. 

Not that the Motion Pillow comes cheap. The device will set you back more than $400, but for some that could be a small price to pay to save a relationship.

And if that doesn’t work, you can always hold the pillow firmly over the snorer’s face until the noises stop. Just kidding … please don’t do that.  

If you hear something that keeps you awake at night, penny@medicalrepublic.com.au is listening.