Bose Sleepbuds review: engineering a good night’s sleep

What price a good night’s sleep? Bose is banking on the hope that sleep-deprived customers will be only too ready to reach for their credit cards.

It seems like a safe bet. Biometric apps have increased awareness of sleep-deprivation, but until now technology has offered little in the way of a solution. In fact, the standard advice to insomniacs has been to keep personal tech out of the bedroom. Glowing screens and email alerts are not the best preparation for a restful night.

Now, though, Bose Sleepbuds promise a technological solution to some of the most common nocturnal disturbances, including noisy neighbours, barking dogs and snoring partners.

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Unusually, perhaps, Bose is keen to underline what the new products won’t do. “They aren’t active noise-cancelling headphones, they’re not in-ear headphones with an added feature, and they don’t stream music,” the company says. “Every last detail was optimised for one thing - better sleep, all night, every night.”

There are good reasons for these apparent omissions. Music streaming would have added uncomfortable bulk, while noise-cancelling systems, which work well to filter out the relatively consistent background hubbub of planes and trains, are less effective against isolated sounds in otherwise quiet conditions - just the kind of thing that wakes people up.

Instead, Bose aims to seal out as much sound as possible with an in-ear bud (provided in three sizes) and mask what remains with a selection of ten “sleeptracks”, engineered to mirror and mask the frequencies of traffic, snoring, human voices and barking dogs. Each one mimics a more relaxing sound: a waterfall, for example, or a crackling campfire.

A week-long trial of the Sleepbuds resulted in a significant improvement in sleep quality and quantity. Though small and unobtrusive, the earphones do take a little bit of getting used to - but after a night or two they’re comfortable even for side-sleepers. And they successfully masked the sound of amorous foxes, rubbish collections and an early-rising partner.

The buds are controlled with the Bose Sleep app, which lets you set alarms, adjust the volume of the soundtrack or put it on a timer - for example, if you only want it to play for an hour while you fall asleep and then switch itself off. The battery - a tiny silver-zinc cell of the sort used in medical devices - lasts for about 16 hours, and can be recharged a few times from the case.

All this miniaturisation comes at a price - a sizable £229.95. But for the sense of wellbeing which follows a good night’s sleep, that might be a price worth paying.