Consumer Sleep Technologies: A Review of the Landscape

Abstract

Objective: To review sleep related consumer technologies, including mobile electronic device "apps," wearable devices, and other technologies. Validation and methodological transparency, the effect on clinical sleep medicine, and various social, legal, and ethical issues are discussed.

Methods: We reviewed publications from the digital libraries of the Association for Computing Machinery, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, and PubMed; publications from consumer technology websites; and mobile device app marketplaces. Search terms included "sleep technology," "sleep app," and "sleep monitoring."

Results: Consumer sleep technologies are categorized by delivery platform including mobile device apps (integrated with a mobile operating system and utilizing mobile device functions such as the camera or microphone), wearable devices (on the body or attached to clothing), embedded devices (integrated into furniture or other fixtures in the native sleep environment), accessory appliances, and conventional desktop/website resources. Their primary goals include facilitation of sleep induction or wakening, self-guided sleep assessment, entertainment, social connection, information sharing, and sleep education.

Conclusions: Consumer sleep technologies are changing the landscape of sleep health and clinical sleep medicine. These technologies have the potential to both improve and impair collective and individual sleep health depending on method of implementation.

Keywords: biomedical technology; educational technology; sleep; sleep disorders.