The Dreampad pillow vibrates sound into your head with no headphones

Sick of wearing headphones to bed? Integrated Listening Systems, the company behind the popular Dreampad, just launched a Kickstarter campaign offering the therapeutic pillow in larger sizes meant for adults.

The original purpose of the Dreampad was to soothe children with high levels of anxiety, such as those with trauma or autism, by converting soothing noises into vibrations that get transmitted directly into the inner ear. This means the noise is only heard by the person using the Dreampad, rather than projecting it into the surrounding room. It also allows the person to hear the sounds without having their ears plugged by earbuds or wearing bulky headphones to bed, which can disrupt a good night’s rest.

The pillow has been so effective at calming anxious children down, that Integrated Listening Systems says parents of the patients found themselves taking the pillow to use after their kids fell asleep. Possibly feeling a bit guilty about this, parents started requesting an adult version.

Randall Redfield, the creator of the Dreampad and co-founder & CEO of Integrated Listening Systems, says that the company has been redesigning, testing, and refining the new version for three years to get it just right.

The pillow has a companion app on both iOS and Android devices that lets the user choose which song they’ll hear, and it can pair to the pillow through Bluetooth with an available adaptor. With the launch of the new pillow, Integrated Listening Systems says that the selection will grow to 10 songs and one alarm.

There are four sizes to choose from, depending on your sleep position, and you can choose which one you want, no matter what level of reward you back on Kickstarter.

As of this writing, the least expensive level that still has units available is the $109 level, which includes the Bluetooth receiver and free shipping in the U.S. If the product hits store shelves, it will retail for $179.

This comes with the usual disclaimer that a Kickstarter product is not a guarantee that you will get the product you back, but we’re fairly confident in this one. The company has been around for a couple years already and demonstrated the ability to bring a product to market. However that product was a clinical product, versus mass-market, so there’s still a risk of unexpected snags.

from Planet GS via John Jason Fallows on Inoreader http://ift.tt/2ewp41v
Tom Cassady