AI Technology Could Be the Secret to a Better Night’s Sleep

Sleep is a hugely important part of your health and wellbeing. Without restful, solid slumber, your body and mind won’t perform at their best. Despite the need for quality sleep, technology and busy lifestyles often mean we don’t get enough of the good stuff. According to a new study, it seems that artificial intelligence (AI) could help correct that.

Researchers from the University of Sheffield have developed AI that can monitor snoring levels and identify sleep disorders. Created by Professor Guy Brown and Dr Ning Ma, the technology is in the process of being commercialised through a new app called SoundSleep, which is currently available on iOS devices and will soon be accessible on Android.

The app uses the AI created by the University of Sheffield researchers and allows users to record their sleeping sounds through their phones. The app records your snoring levels and creates nightly reports based on your slumber, providing information on the possible causes or factors contributing to your poor sleep as well as solutions for these.

The accessibility of this technology has also allowed users to diagnose sleep disorders like sleep apnea from the comfort of their own homes. What usually requires an overnight stay in a specialist clinic (which can be costly), can now be discovered through the use of AI. And, given the world has been in various stages of lockdown over the last 18 months, this technology makes it easier to receive an initial diagnosis without the need to travel to a clinic.

“Getting a good night’s sleep is a problem that affects lots of people across the country — whether that be because of a partner who snores loudly, an underlying health problem or due to a factor in a person’s lifestyle or nighttime routine that is affecting how much sleep they get every night,” said Dr Ning Ma, research fellow in the University of Sheffield’s Department of Computer Science, said in a statement.

“We understand that finding that secret to a good night’s sleep can seem stressful and confusing, so what we are trying to do with our research is use the latest, state-of-the-art artificial intelligence to help people get to the bottom of what is preventing them from getting a good night’s sleep as easily as possible.” 

The researchers will now focus their efforts on ways the AI can be used in conjunction with smartphones and low-cost sensors to diagnose sleep disorders. These sensors will be designed to be placed on the body to diagnose and treat sleep disorders remotely.