Snoring isn’t just a nuisance, it’s a warning sign. It can disrupt your partner’s sleep, lower your sleep quality, and in many cases, be an indicator of more serious health conditions. That’s why with Pod 5 Ultra, we’ve taken a bold step forward in tackling snoring, by detecting it passively and mitigating it intelligently.
Why snoring is more than just noise
Snoring is the sound of obstructed breathing. It happens when airflow through the nose or mouth is partially blocked during sleep, typically due to relaxed tissues in the throat that vibrate. While occasional snoring may be harmless, snoring has also been linked to anything from sleep apnea to the common cold.
The consequences of habitual snoring can include:
- Fragmented, poor-quality sleep
- Daytime fatigue
- Increased risk of high blood pressure, stroke, and cardiovascular disease
Whether you snore once a week or all night every night, it can still cause micro-arousals—brief awakenings that prevent the body from entering deep, restorative sleep.
Introducing snore detection & mitigation in Pod 5 Ultra
With Pod 5 Ultra, we’ve created the first intelligent sleep system that can detect snoring and intervene in real-time, without wearables or microphones.
Before being able to effectively stop snoring, we’d first need to identify if and when it is happening. The sensors inside the Pod can detect snoring thanks to the vibrations picked up by the sensors that span the entire width of the Cover. These sensors are located at chest level and pick up vibrations from snoring through the chest wall. These vibrations are then fed into one of Autopilot’s algorithms to analyze your (or your partner’s) snores. Through this algorithm, the data is analyzed by a neural network trained using data from more than 2,500 known snorers, ultimately allowing us to provide accurate information to users about their sleep every night. Every day our deep-learning model analyzes millions of minutes of vibration data, continuously improving its overall accuracy and intelligence.
Pod 5 Ultra’s adjustable Base gently elevates the bed when snoring is detected – in real time and without disruption. The Base was designed to be silent and gentle in movement to avoid waking either partner when making adjustments. We achieved this by using custom motors and control systems to move the Base with a much lower minimum speed than other products in the market. The gradual angle change moves at a nearly imperceptible rate, supporting our ultimate goal of keeping users asleep throughout the night, undisturbed.
By gently elevating the sleeper’s torso without waking them, the Pod can reduce snoring, alleviating the conditions that cause snoring in the first place.
Clinical validation: Does it actually work?
The short answer: yes. We tested snoring detection and mitigation in a clinical study that captured over 200 nights of data. The study revealed that participants saw up to a 31% decrease in snoring when Pod Ultra’s head angle was raised to 6 degrees, and up to a 45% decrease in snoring when raised to 15 degrees.
Sleep Without Interruption. Health Without Compromise.
Snoring isn’t just disruptive—it’s a physiological stressor. Pod 5 Ultra is designed not just to passively track your sleep, but to actively optimize it in real time, improving both the quality and continuity of your rest.
Whether you snore every night or only under specific conditions (like after drinking alcohol or sleeping on your back), Pod 5 Ultra’s intelligent elevation system learns your patterns and responds dynamically—so you and your partner can both sleep better, uninterrupted.
References
- Johns Hopkins Medicine. “What Causes Snoring?” https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/snoring
