Conflicting Factors Influencing My Brain Stem
β¦and how they present challenges to restful sleep. While weβre at it, Iβll talk about an iOS App that I think should exist, but I have not yet found.
My wife and I both snore. In my case, itβs severe Sleep Apnea for which I wear a CPAP, but that doesnβt guarantee that Iβm 100% snore-free. I can still make noises, from my head and elsewhere. My wifeβs snoring varies considerably, from a rhythmic melodic hum, to chirps, to raspberries, to wheezes.
Sheβs used an ear-plug for years. Whichever ear is not against the pillow. Now she uses Bose Sleepbuds, but still, only one ear at a time. So when she rolls over from one side to the other, she has to remove one, insert the other. This is more conscious (i.e. wakeful) effort than Iβm willing to abide.
I recently started using earplugs. This doesnβt solve the problem, it merely changes the problem. Itβs that brain stem thing. Over many generations, the male side of our family has been conditioned that βas the man of the house,β it is our responsibility to remain alert to out-of-the-ordinary noises, so that should the Vikings come a-pillaging, we can spring into defense of our homes and villagesβ¦ laughable as that may be in reality. So, earplugs that stifle the noise that keep me from falling asleep just irritate my brain stem because I wonβt hear the smoke alarm, the phone ring, burglars breaking in, or police helicopter overhead tracking the bad guys through the back yards. Yes, I do watch too much TV, and no, it has not helped.
What I need is a combination of 2 things, both of which already exist on the App Store:
- Sleep/Meditation Sounds
β¦of which Iβve found some really cool ones - Baby Monitor / Remote Mic
Though it should be possible to do this with simply my current and immediately previous iPhones, Iβve cobbled together a solution that is almost there. Needs a little refinement. Start with sleep sounds, which mostly is for maskingβ¦
Because Iβm a Ham Radio guy, and musician, Iβve got multiple computers and audio gear. Thereβs a six-channel mixer on my desk, in my office, which is directly downstairs from our bedroom. So, although I could do it with one computer, I happen to be doing all this with two. Anyway, a 2nd computer has a browser open to the Live365 station pictured above. Its output is one of the sliders on my mixer. Itβs not turned up very much.
Thereβs also a boom mic plugged into that mixer. Thatβs pushed up to the nominal 0dB line, but not beyond that to βboostedβ (which badly raises the noise floor). If my ears could hear a smoke alarm, or other time-to-wake-up sound, so can this microphone. Itβs the same distance from the front door, for example. But itβs not in the same room as the snoring from either of us, which helps.
So thatβs the βmixβ. Now to get it to a pair of low-profile earbuds which block ambient noise very well, and are low-profile enough to comfortably be in the pillow-side ear.
I was in a KickStarter for one of Decibullz products, & Iβve bought several things from them. Iβm impressed.
The βbridgeβ between the mixer on my desk and the earbuds in the bedroom upstairs is two products from the same companyβ¦
Iβve had this kludge running only one night so far, but I was impressed by how well it worked. For one quirky example, as I was winding down toward sleep, I heard a βclickβ¦clickβ. Took me a moment, but realized it was the TX relay for my APRS iGate transmitting on 144.39MHz. Itβs a familiar sound. I hear it many times a day as I sit at my desk almost within armβs reach of the thing. It was familiar. It helped convince my subconscious that if something happens that needs my attention, I will hear it. I can hear βhousehold soundsβ.
The ideal solution would be a single iOS app that
- Downloads the sound loops & stores/plays them locally, so I donβt need internet access to use it.
- Has a mixer to set relative volumes of masking/sleeping sound and awareness mic.
- Can use the local iPhoneβs mic(s) to be used standalone.
- Can use a 2nd iPhoneβs mic(s) in bluetooth or wifi range to hear from elsewhere.
Iβm imagining the sleep-deprived young parent who needs to respond to a baby crying down the hall, but would like to not be kept up by their partnerβs snoring in the same room.