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"SnoreMasker Pro is the Perfect Solution to Let You
Sleep With a Snoring Bed Partner or Noisy Neighbors!"If you have tried and failed to make the love of your life stop snoring and
you still need relief, SnoreMasker Pro might be just the solution you are
searching for. SnoreMasker Pro is a unique combination of an
ear plug and an in-ear white noise machine.
As Featured in The New Yorker February, 2016.
How SnoreMasker Pro Works
Each SnoreMasker Pro Earpiece is fitted with a soft poly-urethane foam tip. We use
this material for our
tips because poly-urethane foam is the best noise insulating material available. These soft
foam ear tips block all kinds of noises, including snoring, the neighbor's TV,
traffic noise, and other sounds, preventing most of the sound from entering your
ear. If you have already tried foam earplugs, you know of course, that no ear
plug can block all the noise you hear, especially loud snoring, and the foam
tips on SnoreMasker Pro will not block all the noise either. What they will do
is reduce the volume you hear by 20-25 dB, or by about 75%. SnoreMasker Pro then produces a
gentle, soothing, white noise sound that will mask much of the remaining noise
you can hear, giving you nearly total isolation from virtually all sound up to
70 dB, about the
sound level of a loud alarm clock.
Why not just use a really great set of ear plugs?
That is a good question! To completely mask really loud snoring at 75 dB so that you
cannot hear it at all, you would need to block 60 dB or more of sound if you
have normal hearing, because normal hearing people begin to be able to hear
sound at 15 dB (75-60=15). Here is the
problem: Only about 33 dB of sound passes through the ear canal where the earplugs can block the sound. A great deal of
sound travels around the ear canal, through the bones in your head, right to the
eardrum, so even if you completely blocked your ear canals with ear plugs, you
would still be able to clearly hear the loud snoring which would be reduced to
about 42 dB (75-33=42), about the
level of a quiet voice and still much too loud to comfortably sleep with.
That is why ear plugs have not worked for you, and why no ear plug can do the job
with really loud snoring.
To summarize the point: No ear plug alone will ever be
able to adequately block really loud snoring. To solve the really loud snoring
problem, the ear plugs need help. |
The absolute threshold of human hearing is defined as 0 dB, and people
with normal hearing can just begin to hear sound at 15 dB. A whisper is about 40 dB. A normal voice is about
55-65 dB, and really loud snoring can be as loud as
75 dB, with most snoring registering in the range of 50-70dB. Human hearing is
remarkably acute under normal circumstances, and when your environment is really
quiet, your hearing becomes even more sensitive.
Being able to hear very low sounds is tremendously helpful...unless you are
trying to sleep! As you lie awake in the dark quiet of your bedroom, you
can hear the traffic off in the distance, the ticking of a clock, the dripping
of a faucet, the breathing of your sleeping partner, or the muted sound of a TV
playing somewhere in the building. Every night, millions of people sleep with a
fan or an air purifier or radio or white noise machine running to mask these
little noises in the night. Adding a soothing background noise to your
environment helps you sleep in two ways. First it "de-tunes" your hearing so
that it is not so acute. In the presence of any background noise, your mind
automatically turns down the volume on your hearing so you cannot hear as well.
This means that many of the small sounds that would be keeping you awake if it
were very quiet in your room, are no longer heard. Second, the "white noise"
sound from your fan or air purifier or radio or white noise machine drowns out,
or "masks", some of the bothersome noises you would hear without that masking
noise.
This is an important principle: Noise Masking works two ways; first by
reducing the sensitivity of your hearing so you do not hear the bothersome
noises as well, and second, by drowning out some or all of the bothersome noise that
you can still hear. |
Why not just use a masking noise?
Another good question! The physics of noise masking are such that masking is
not perfect. In our tests, we have found that masking is typically about 30-50%
effective, depending on the quality of the sound being masked. Because of the
inefficiency of noise masking, an 80 dB masking sound (the maximum safe volume
level for continuous exposure) will effectively mask about 24-40 dB of noise. To
completely mask loud snoring at 75 dB would require from 150 to 250 dB of
masking sound! That is obviously impractical because at 140 dB of volume, the
sound is so loud that it causes physical pain and almost instantaneous,
permanent, hearing damage.
So if you are suffering from loud snoring that hits 75 dB, by using the
combination of the foam ear tips (20-25 dB) and the white noise masking sound
(24-40 dB), your SnoreMasker Pros will reduce that really loud snoring by 44-65
dB, to an extremely quiet 10-26 dB, well below the volume of a low whisper.
By injecting a comfortable white noise masking sound directly into your ear
canal on the inside of the barrier formed by the foam tips, your SnoreMasker Pro
earpieces give you two more levels of defense against unwanted noise than you
can get by using earplugs alone. The presence of
the white noise masking sound inside your ear causes your hearing to be less acute so you
cannot hear as well the noises coming into your ear, like the loud snoring
beside you or the TV blaring from next door. The sound that passes through the foam tips or through the bones in your
head right to your ear drum is then masked almost completely by the white noise the SnoreMasker
Pro devices produce. Ordinary night sounds will disappear completely, and the
loudest snoring will be reduced to a barely audible whisper, so faint that it
will not wake you even during the portion of your sleep that is very
light. You
will hear the gentle, soothing, white noise masking sound, and because this sound is
engineered to carry no information to your brain, your mind will tune it out,
letting you sleep deeply and comfortably through the night even while your
sleeping partner snores the night away.
What You Can Expect From SnoreMasker Pro
When your SnoreMasker Pro arrives, you will attach the foam Snap-Tips and
install a battery into each earpiece, then insert each earpiece carefully into
your ears and adjust the volume of white noise. At this point, assuming you have
the correct size Snap-Tip attached and the devices are both deeply inserted
into your ears, with the white noise masking sound turned up, you will be unable
to hear most people talking in a normal voice. You will be able to faintly hear
loud voices, though even those will be very muted and difficult to understand.
You may still be able to hear "thumper" cars passing by outside and other very
low bass sounds, the sort that are more felt than heard. You may be completely
unable to hear your alarm or to hear your baby cry, and you need to test to make
sure you can hear the danger signals in your life before you begin sleeping with
your SnoreMasker Pros. If you need an alarm to wake you and you cannot
adequately hear yours while wearing your SnoreMasker Pros, we suggest that you
get a vibrating alarm clock which wakes you by vibrating your pillow or mattress
rather than by making a noise.
When you first try using your SnoreMasker Pros to sleep with your snoring bed
partner, you need to make sure he/she understands that you cannot hear them
talking to you. Some people get mad, thinking their partner is just ignoring
them. Because this is frequently such a sensitive topic we suggest that you
encourage your sleeping partner to try your SnoreMasker Pros too, so they can
fully appreciate and understand how profoundly the SnoreMasker Pros will reduce
your ability to hear them speaking to you...or snoring beside you.
The assortment pack of Snap-Tips you receive with your SnoreMasker Pro will
almost certainly contain a size of tip that will properly fit your ears, and the SnoreMasker Pro
earpieces will almost certainly fit into your ear canals, but if you have any
trouble on either count, our technical support personnel are here to help you
find solutions including unusual sizes of Snap-Tips that may fit you better, or
replacement full custom shells for your SnoreMasker Pro earpieces. These
additional adaptive solutions are rarely needed, but we want you to know that we
are here to help if you need us.
You may be disappointed to find that you can hear more sounds than you
expected to be able to hear with your SnoreMasker Pro. That is a normal
reaction. What most people want is perfect silence, or as one lady put it,
"...artificial deafness!" Those who are blessed with normal hearing,
unfortunately, can hear so well that it is impossible to safely eliminate your
ability to hear all sound. What SnoreMasker Pro can do though is to safely
eliminate almost all of the noise that is bothering you so you can get to sleep
more easily, sleep more deeply, and stay asleep longer, without interruption
from noises in the night, to finally get the rest you need for a happy and
healthy life. As you would expect, of course, we guarantee that you will be
satisfied with the performance of your SnoreMasker Pro. (See Our Return Policy for Details)
Facts About SnoreMasker Pro
SnoreMasker Pro is produced using the latest hearing aid technology usually
only found in devices costing over $2,000, so you know it is well-made for years
of daily service. SnoreMasker Pro features unique Unifit earpieces, each with
its own battery and independent volume control. Each Unifit earpiece is designed
to fit either ear, and will fit over 95% of all adults. The SnoreMasker Pro earpieces are
extra small, to rest gently down inside your ear canal so that you can comfortably
lie on either ear with no pain or discomfort. Each Unifit earpiece has a special
Comply Snap-Tip connector point that lets you easily and securely attach a
foam Snap-Tip. The Comply Foam Snap-Tips are made in three sizes so you can
choose the size that fits you best, and SnoreMasker Pro ships with a Comply
assortment pack that includes two pairs each of the small and average size
Snap-Tips, plus one pair of the large size tips. Each foam Snap-Tip is
removable and will need to be replaced after somewhere between 3-20 nights on average. Because
the foam tips cannot be effectively cleaned, the tips will need periodic
replacement, and the frequency of replacement will depend mainly on the rate at
which your ears produce earwax, along with other factors that vary from person
to person. Replacement Snap-Tips cost about $4 a pair. Batteries are standard
size 10 hearing aid batteries available at most of our dealer sites, as well as
at drug and discount stores, for less than $1 each. Each set of batteries will last up to 250
hours, depending on the volume at which the devices are used.
Each SnoreMasker Pro Package Includes All of the Following:
- Two Unifit In-The-Canal White Noise Generators, each Fitted with a Comply Snap-Tip Attachment Point
- Four Size 10 Hearing Aid Batteries (one battery is required for each earpiece)
- Comply Snap-Tip Foam Assortment Pack (2 pairs small tips, 2 pairs average tips, and 1 pair large tips)
- Deluxe Mirror Finish, Lined Metal Storage Box
- Premium Earwax Removal and Battery Handling Tool
- User Manual
SnoreMasker Pro Includes the Following Important Features:
- Built-in battery compartment (fits standard size 10 hearing aid batteries, widely available everywhere)
- Independent volume control (infinitely adjustable from 0 to a maximum volume of 80dB, a safe volume for continuous exposure to sound)
- Unifit structure. Each device will fit either ear, and over 95% of all adults.
- Built-in Comply Snap-Tip Attachment Point (receives the patented foam Comply Snap-Tips for excellent noise blocking, comfort and fit)
- Maximum noise management up to 75 dB (we recommend a vibrating alarm clock as you may not be able to hear your alarm depending on the volume of white noise you choose)
- 90 day factory warranty.
Warning: because SnoreMasker Pro is capable of blocking most incoming sounds it can prevent you from hearing smoke alarms and other emergency warning devices you may need to hear. Be sure to test your ability to hear these warnings before going to sleep with the SnoreMasker Pro in place.