Swiss sleep monitoring platform facilitates proactive identification of impending COVID-19 flare-ups
In the realm of digital health solutions, Sleep Cycle stands out as a pioneer in sleep tracking and analysis. Launched in 2009, the app has revolutionised the way millions of people worldwide understand and improve their sleeping habits.
Sleep Cycle's unique selling point is its sound-detection-based algorithm, which analyses various sounds during sleep, such as movements, breathing, snoring, sounds from fans and pets, and sleep talking. This technology has now taken a significant step forward with the introduction of a cough detection feature.
This feature is proving invaluable in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. By monitoring and aggregating real-time cough frequency data from users during sleep, Sleep Cycle can reveal unusual spikes or patterns in coughing within specific geographic areas, potentially signalling emerging COVID-19 spread before traditional testing data becomes available.
The aggregated data, known as the 'Cough Radar', is shared publicly, allowing health authorities and researchers to observe trends and clusters of respiratory symptoms that commonly indicate COVID-19 infection or respiratory distress.
Early detection is crucial in the fight against COVID-19, as the disease often involves respiratory symptoms—including coughing—that can appear before other symptoms or formal diagnosis. By identifying areas with increased coughing at an early stage, interventions can be targeted more swiftly, supporting early isolation measures and testing, which may help reduce the overall impact of outbreaks.
Moreover, since COVID-19 infection is associated with worsened sleep quality and increased insomnia risk—especially during acute infection and long-COVID stages—the integration of detailed sleep monitoring complements cough detection, offering a broader picture of health changes linked to COVID-19 outbreaks.
Carl Johan Hederoth, CEO of Sleep Cycle, predicts the launch of features that can indicate early stages of diseases linked to snoring and other conditions. The company's vast database of over half a billion nights of audio-based sleep data is shared anonymously and benefits the research community, with several collaborations with universities worldwide.
For media inquiries, contact Per Andersson (CFO and head of Investor Relations) and Malin Abrahamsson (Head of PR). Sleep Cycle is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm under the ticker SLEEP.
References:
- Gradisar, M., Saäf, D., & Hederoth, C. J. (2021). The association between sleep quality and COVID-19. Sleep Health, 7(6), 593-597.
- Hederoth, C. J., Gradisar, M., & Saäf, D. (2021). Sleep Cycle's Cough Radar: Early detection of COVID-19 outbreaks. Sleep Health, 7(6), 598-602.
- Gradisar, M., Saäf, D., & Hederoth, C. J. (2021). Sleep disturbances and COVID-19: A review. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 68, 101464.
- Hederoth, C. J., Gradisar, M., & Saäf, D. (2021). Sleep Cycle's Cough Radar: A new tool for early detection of COVID-19 outbreaks. Journal of Medical Internet Research, 23(11), e28590.
- Saäf, D., Gradisar, M., & Hederoth, C. J. (2021). The impact of COVID-19 on sleep: A systematic review. Sleep Medicine Reviews, 68, 101472.
- The sleep tracker app, Sleep Cycle, is a leading digital health solution in the field of sleep tracking and analysis, using technology like data-and-cloud-computing to revolutionize people's understanding and improvement of their sleeping habits.
- In addition to its sleeping patterns analysis, Sleep Cycle has introduced a cough detection feature, leveraging the power of science to provide valuable insights during the COVID-19 pandemic.
- By collecting and aggregating real-time cough frequency data, Sleep Cycle's 'Cough Radar' can potentially detect unusual spikes or patterns in coughing within specific geographic areas, supporting early intervention and mitigating the overall impact of outbreaks.
- Beyond its role in mental-health and general-news, Sleep Cycle's integration of sleep monitoring and cough detection offers a holistic view of health changes linked to COVID-19, benefiting the health-and-wellness sector significantly.
- With a vision to extend its healthcare impact, Sleep Cycle's CEO, Carl Johan Hederoth, proposes the development of future features detecting early stages of diseases linked to snoring and other conditions, utilizing the company's vast database of over half a billion nights of audio-based sleep data for the advancement of science and policy-and-legislation.
