“By providing a range of choices for this specific patient segment, we hope to overcome the psychological hurdle of treatment for first-time female patients as well as introduce a new set of offerings for patients who have already been on therapy for a while,” said Bernadette McBrearty, vice president, product marketing. “We want to send the message that they can still look and feel like themselves while on therapy.”

For health care providers, the “Choices for Her” range allows them to offer more fitting options and customized styling for their female patients, which may help them accept therapy early on and remain compliant in the long run. It gives them the opportunity to introduce a new line of products that were designed with women’s specific needs in mind.

The FX family of masks, which boasts lightweight, unobtrusive design and comfortable cushion technology, offers a female-friendly version for all three mask categories. The Quattro FX for Her provides the coverage and stability of traditional full face masks with a clear field of vision. The Mirage FX for Her nasal mask is compact and lightweight and features soft headgear with only four parts for easy wear and care. The Swift FX for Her nasal pillows system offers softness, simplicity, and stability in a minimalist design.

Going beyond masks, ResMed also introduced the S9 AutoSet for Her within the “Choices for Her” range. Offering the quiet comfort of the S9 Easy-Breathe motor and Enhanced AutoSet algorithm, the S9 AutoSet for Her ensures that her sleep environment remains quiet and peaceful.

“ResMed now has an extensive solution for female patients with the FX Series masks and the S9 AutoSet for Her,” stated McBrearty. “By investing in developing new features that are important to women, we are also providing support to health care providers who are committed to patient compliance. ‘Choices for Her’ is just that—a new approach to therapy designed to give women more choice, more comfort, and more confidence in their therapy experience.”

Source: Sleep Review Mag

Introducing the AutoIQ Mode

Ideally, you want to be able to track a sleep apnea patient’s progress over several nights, establish an ideal therapy pressure, and then check back periodically just to make sure therapy is still optimal. In reality, providing that level of service to every patient is neither practical nor equitable.

That’s where the REMstar Pro with AutoIQ comes in. With two distinct phases – Auto-Trial and Auto-Check – the AutoIQ mode uses the proven Philips Respironics auto algorithm to track and deliver breath-by-breath therapy and set an ideal fixed CPAP pressure. It then reassesses treatment needs periodically and changes therapy pressures automatically – without the need for you to send someone to the patient’s home. AutoIQ is one intelligent sleep therapy solution that is always curiously smart and powerfully convenient.

The result of a shared commitment

Sharing your dedication to allowing more people to enjoy the benefits of better sleep and brighter days, Philips Respironics is committed to developing meaningful innovations that help us all get one step closer to making patient
success automatic. The AutoIQ mode is evidence of that shared mission and of our ongoing pledge to you and your patients.

Source: Philips Respironics

But babies do like sound in order to sleep, it turns out. And so do their parents. At the baby shower last year, my wife and I received several white-noise-enabled toys; you turn over the cuddly giraffe or sheep to reveal a control panel for a variety of soothing sounds.

We’ve also each downloaded White Noise, an iPhone app that costs about $2 and has a sprawling menu of sleep-aiding noises. The app has been indispensable to our son Khalil’s sleep; with the sound on, he sleeps fitfully, but without it we have the sort of disaster that would make Jerry Bruckheimer proud.

The app has also made me something of a sommelier of sounds. I can now recognize what are widely described as the various “colors” of noise: blue noise is a muted, more summery version of white, while brown noise is bassy and deep. And pink noise, our son’s favorite, sounds like the tone you’d hear were you to take up residence inside a conch shell.

Over the last few weeks, I have tested several other gadgets designed to help you sleep or save your ears. Some of them emit sounds (usually white noise or a variant) in an effort to mask distracting noises. Others block sounds in ingenious ways.

Used correctly, these gadgets could change your life — you might finally get a reprieve from your snoring spouse, or vice versa; you might finally get your baby to sleep (so you can spend more time with your snoring spouse), or you might finally drown out those unashamedly loud neighbors.

The most basic gadget is the Marpac Sound Screen 980A, which hasn’t changed much since it went on the market in the 1960s. The Sound Screen, a small beige cylinder about the size of a large salad bowl, creates white noise mechanically: it uses an internal fan and has no electronics at all. The device, which costs about $50 on Amazon, has two switches — one for a soft sound, one for a loud one — and air vents that you can adjust to change the pitch of the noise.

It is, in other words, drop-dead easy to use. But that’s true of my White Noise app, too. Why buy the Sound Screen instead? For one thing, the stand-alone device can be kept on all day and night, while you will occasionally need to use your phone for other things. Also, the Sound Screen’s noise is seamless and continuous; most electronic white-noise machines use a digital loop to generate sound and, according to Jimmy Sloan, Marpac’s owner, some people can be distracted when the loop restarts every 30 minutes or so.

My wife and I found the Sound Screen’s sound to be less tinny, and thus more soothing, than that of other, cheaper white-noise devices. It wasn’t a vast difference (I suggest trying the cheaper ones before moving on to the Sound Screen), but there was something deeply pleasing about it.

What makes such white-noise devices effective? Tom Bergman, the marketing director at the Ear Plug Superstore, a site that sells a variety of noise-masking devices, said white noise works by “raising your threshold of hearing.” Your ears automatically get less acute as the level of ambient sound rises, he explained; that’s why you can’t hear a dripping faucet in the daytime, when there are many other noises, but at night, when everything’s still, the faucet becomes ear-shattering.

At the same time, because white noise does not have any recognizable variance, most people eventually don’t notice they are hearing anything at all.

For these reasons, white noise is one of the best ways to mask unwanted sounds — say, those annoying birds that chirp near your window every morning.

The trouble is, some people don’t get used to white noise and even find it too annoying to sleep with. Now, imagine this scenario: One half of a couple snores interminably, but can’t stand a white-noise machine. The other half can’t stand the snoring. What can save this marriage?

Mr. Bergman said that many people in these straits look for high-tech solutions, like noise-canceling headphones. These use microphones to detect patterns of ambient sound and create an “anti-noise” signal to cancel out those sounds. But that technology works best for constant, low-frequency noise, like that on airplanes. For other ambient sound patterns, low-tech may be the better bet.

What should our incompatible couple do? Try foam earplugs first, Mr. Bergman suggested. The best earplugs (rated NRR 33, meaning they reduce ambient noise by 33 decibels) will provide significant relief from unwanted sound, but only if they are worn properly. “You have to roll it carefully into a thin cylinder, push it into your ear, and hold it there until it expands to fill your ear canal,” Mr. Bergman said. “When you do that correctly, most people are amazed at how much sound an earplug blocks.”

For some snoring victims, though, earplugs are not enough. Enter the SnoreMasker Pro, which combines an earplug with white noise. The SnoreMasker is a hearing-aid-size earpiece that fits snugly, blocking most outside sound. But it also has a small speaker inside; as you turn the tiny volume knob on the earpiece, you hear soothing white noise, right inside your head.

I don’t have a snoring spouse, so I can’t comment on the SnoreMasker’s effectiveness. But I can say that when I inserted it and turned it on, I did feel enveloped in white noise, an entirely pleasing sensation. But an expensive one: Ear Plug Superstore sells the SnoreMasker Pro for $399 a pair.

Another sophisticated noise-suppression product is the “filtered earplug,” a plastic device that reduces the volume of outside sound but does not alter its character. This can be useful in many scenarios. For instance, The BlastBuster Variable Noise Reduction Shooter’s Ear Plugs, which sell for $8.75 a pair at Ear Plug Superstore, let you hear all sounds at a normal conversation level. But they block extremely loud sounds. If you’re hunting with friends, say, you can keep talking, but when a gun fires your ears will be protected.

Another device, the Etymotic ER-20 high-fidelity earplugs, are best for listening to (or playing) music: They reduce the volume of outside sound but preserve the pitch — meaning that tunes won’t sound muffled when these are in your ears. They cost about $13 a pair.

Then there’s the high-tech take on the BlastBuster concept, the Etymotic EB-15 earplugs, about $500 a pair. These plugs, which have a tiny acoustic chip, allow all quiet sounds to pass through; at low or normal levels of sound, you feel as if you have nothing in your ears. But when the outside sound spikes (like a loud crash on a construction site), the EB-15’s sound-blocking kicks in, and your ears are saved. I found these pretty amazing.

And Mack’s Ear Saver, about $10, reduces the volume coming through your music player’s headphones. Many people listen to portable audio players at dangerously loud volumes, Mr. Bergman said. The Ear Saver is a small wire that sits between your player and your headphones. You plug the Ear Saver into your player, and you plug your headphones into the Ear Saver, and that’s it: no matter how high you turn the volume, you will never hear sound at a damaging level.

Mr. Bergman said that parents often buy the Ear Saver for their children’s portable music players. How do you make sure your child doesn’t just pull out the Ear Saver and crank up the volume? “Some people glue it on the end of their headphones, so they can’t remove it,” Mr. Bergman said. Or you could threaten to replace all their tunes with white noise.

Source: FARHAD MANJOO, The New York Times

The Alice 6 sleep diagnostic system includes a choice of three head boxes ranging from the Alice LDE for routine sleep studies to the full-featured LDx base station with either the LDxS or LDxN head box. The LDxS head box provides 19 EEG inputs while the LDxN headbox offers a full 32 EEG. The Alice 6 enables sleep lab managers to meet today’s clinical and business challenges. The systems combine flexibility with ease-of-use features, such as automatic chin EMG referencing and integrated RIP drivers, to enhance the technician’s ability to focus on the patient.

Philips Respironics also featured innovations in patient interface technology, including its first sleep therapy mask built specifically for men and women, and a much anticipated gel nasal mask. The masks are designed to enhance the comfort, ease of fit, and performance that are critical to patient adherence to therapy.

GoLife for Men is Philips Respironics’ first nasal pillows mask designed to fit the larger contours of the male facial structure. The newly released GoLife for Women features a smaller frame and headgear to more closely fit female facial dimensions. Both are offered in new attractive colors. GoLife’s soft facial contour arms gently hug the patient’s face to maintain a secure seal and stability even when moving during sleep.

Philips Respironics brings its best technologies together with the premiere of the TrueBlue gel nasal mask with Auto Seal technology. Thinner and lighter than previous masks, the premium blue gel, together with the thin, form-fitting outer silicone membrane, creates a self-adjusting seal. The mask delivers a high degree of comfort, stability, and freedom of movement with minimal adjustments in a gel nasal mask.

Source: Sleep Review Mag

The study finds that napping on a slowly swinging bed really does get us to sleep faster. To the researchers’ surprise, rocking also changes the nature of our sleep, encouraging deeper sleep.

“It is a common belief that rocking induces sleep: we irresistibly fall asleep in a rocking chair and, since immemorial times, we cradle our babies to sleep,” said Sophie Schwartz of the University of Geneva. “Yet, how this works had remained a mystery. The goal of our study was twofold: to test whether rocking does indeed soothe sleep, and to understand how this might work at the brain level.”

Schwartz, Michel Mühlethaler, and their colleagues Laurence Bayer and Irina Constantinescu asked twelve adult volunteers to nap on a custom-made bed or “experimental hammock” that could either remain stationary or rock gently. All participants were good sleepers who didn’t typically nap and did not suffer from excessive sleepiness during the day. Each participant took two 45-minute afternoon naps, one with the bed stationary and one with the bed in motion, while their brain activity was monitored by electroencephalogram (EEG).

“We observed a faster transition to sleep in each and every subject in the swinging condition, a result that supports the intuitive notion of facilitation of sleep associated with this procedure,” Mühlethaler said. “Surprisingly, we also observed a dramatic boosting of certain types of sleep-related [brain wave] oscillations.”

More specifically, rocking increased the duration of stage N2 sleep, a form of non-rapid eye movement sleep that normally occupies about half of a good night’s sleep. The rocking bed also had a lasting effect on brain activity, increasing slow oscillations and bursts of activity known as sleep spindles. Those effects are consistent with a more synchronized neural activity characteristic of deeper sleep.

Schwartz and Mühlethaler say the next step is to find out whether rocking can improve longer periods of sleep and to find out whether it may be useful for the treatment of sleep disorders, such as insomnia. Also, they added, because sleep spindles have been associated with brain plasticity mechanisms, enhancing spindle activity with rocking may be good for memory consolidation and may have the potential to improve brain repair mechanisms after brain damage.

Source: Elisabeth (Lisa) Lyons, Cell Press, via EurekAlert

What if you could easily and effectively treat your most complicated sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) patients-stay connected to them at home as their needs change, and improve your at-home management to positively impact long-term compliance? BiPAP autoSV Advanced-System One was specifically designed and validated to give you the peace of mind to not only treat patients with Complex Sleep Apnea, Central Sleep Apnea or Mixed Sleep Apnea, but the ability to manage their future needs in an effective and cost-efficient manner.

• Improved real time access to patient’s data provides doctors and home healthcare providers with daily patient usage, compliance and efficacy data to help assess the success of treatment.
• Clinically proven algorithms, including the innovative Auto EPAP, continually monitor and adjust to a patient’s changing therapy needs.
• Demonstrated Bi-Flex technology enhances patient comfort for long-term efficacy.

The BiPAP autoSV Advanced-System One incorporates more device intelligence so that you can make the most informed and timely decisions for your patients. By combining the proven autoSV Advanced algorithm with the System One platform, the BiPAP autoSV Advanced-System One:

• Monitors sleep assessment parameters to provide optimum feedback for your most complicated patients
• Provides detailed patient-flow waveform data, and is able to recognize indicators beyond classic OSA symptoms
• Provides valuable information in real-time with the addition of the modem options to simplify patient management
• Incorporates our state-of-the-art Encore patient data management and reporting system automatically gathering vital patient information through a secured-access website available via any computer.

The BiPAP autoSV Advanced-System One puts timely, accurate patient information at your fingertips, allowing you to instantly change prescriptions or communicate as necessary. The intelligence is easily accessible and can be collected through wireless modems for remote access, helping ot link a team of clinicians in separate locations together.

For Further Details: Philips Respironics

A sleep apnea pillow is designed for people suffering from mild sleep apnea, using which mainly helps reduce the snoring problem while they go to bed. Sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder that involves repeated pauses in your breathing pattern. The period of time when breathing is reduced or paused is called apnea. Since snoring is the most common symptom of sleep apnea, these patients are often recommended to use anti-snoring aids. Sleep apnea pillows are one of the anti-snoring aids that are becoming highly popular. As pillows are just easy to use unlike other snoring aids, many prefer to use these over products like sprays, masks and nose clips.

A sleep apnea pillow ensures that your neck rests in the right posture so as to avoid snores. Let me tell you that these pillows do not cure sleep apnea or snoring even if any of the sleep apnea pillow reviews might claim so, but they basically help people suffering from this condition get better sleep. Sleep apnea not only disturbs the patient’s sleep, but his/her loud snoring also disturbs the sleep of individuals accompanying him/her. Since the launch of specially designed sleep apnea pillows, there are many individuals who are buying these. If you are eager to know about the best sleep apnea pillow, then here are the details of top products in this category. Read on the same and decide your pick.

Best Sleep Apnea Pillows in the Market

Sona Pillow

Known to be the only patented and clinically tested pillow, this is a product which is approved by the FDA for use by people suffering from mild sleep apnea. The product is very effective in relieving snoring problems and is top rated by various sleep apnea pillow reviews. Sona Pillow offers a natural and an extremely comfortable side sleeping position. It also helps you rest in the right posture, allowing you to place your arm directly under the pillow which further adds to the sleeping comfort. This pillow is priced between USD 59 to USD 70.

Brookstone Anti-Snore Pillow

Well, if you are not a side sleeper or often keep changing your position while sleeping, the Anti-Snore Pillow from Brookstone is the best buy! This is a supportive memory foam neck pillow with specially designed ‘recess-and-support’ zones and tapered sides which help reduce snoring while you enjoy your natural sleeping positions. Pressure-reliving memory foam filling adds to the comfort and provides a perfect solution for having better sleep for people suffering from sleep apnea. You can buy this product at a price range of USD 59 to USD 99.

ObusForme Anti Snore Pillow

This is another popular anti-snoring pillow which offers better sleep to individuals suffering from sleep apnea. With a design that includes an elevated panel, this pillow encourages the person to turn to his side while sleeping, hence reducing the chances of snoring. This popular piece from the cervical pillow collection of ObusForme is priced between USD 69 to USD 89.

The aforementioned products can be purchased from online shopping websites or local stores as well. You can get heavy discounts on these products on various shopping websites. Well, if you are really confused whether a pillow can help cure or at least reduce the symptoms of this medical condition, then you can consult your doctor before buying one. You can browse through the expert and consumer reviews of each of the aforementioned pillows and check its ratings to decide the best piece in this segment. If you are not buying a specially designed pillow for sleep apnea patients, buying a memory foam pillow is a good alternative. Memory foam offers a comfortable surface and ensures that your head and neck rests in the right posture. Pillows are definitely a great alternative to other anti-snoring and sleep apnea devices. Moreover, these also maintain your posture right apart from reducing the snoring problem.

Source: Mamta Mule, Buzzle

The EasyLife nasal mask’s innovative, lightweight design delivers Auto Seal technology, a set of features intended to make EasyLife your favorite mask for set-up and titration. EasyLife’s unique dual-cushion construction features a soft inner cushion that creates a flexible, self-adjusting seal around the nose, while the supportive outer cushion comfortably provides an additional level of stability.

Click here to see a video about how Auto Seal technology can work for you.

Seal

Our unique inner seal cushion moves with the patient to automatically extend over the nasal area and instantly
create an effective, self-adjusting seal.

Note: Lower part of outer support cushion removed to show proper fit of inner seal cushion.

Support

Our outer support cushion allows the mask to rest lightly and comfortably against the face. The cushion’s built-in forehead pad adjusts automatically, eliminating a traditional fitting step.

Intuitive

Combined, the Auto Seal features make EasyLife our most intuitive mask. One that is easy to fit and easy to use, requiring minimal adjustments.

Cosmetically pleasing headgear straps, with optional easy-to-use clips, make fitting as easy as possible for you and your patients. The addition of the petite size helps you to fit 100% of your patients 100% of the time. EasyLife with Auto Seal is designed for a better seal and a better fit that may help patients get a better night’s sleep. It’s truly a winning combination.

• Headgear has inlaid adjustable straps that converge intoo a single panel with a crown strap for added stability.
• Only four parts: mask frame,headgear, outer support cushion, and inner seal cushion.
• Forehead pad adjusts automatically – eliminating a traditional fitting step – and requires minimal headgear force.
• Angled exhalation micro ports make operation quieter and redirect air away from a bed partner.
• Optional clips are included making it easy to remove the mask and keep the same fit night after night.

Source: Philips Respironics

Sleep Number Beds Types:

The Sleep Number beds can be broadly classified by Select Comfort Company into three types:

• Sleep Number Classic Series
• Sleep Number Performance Series
• Sleep Number Innovation Series

Sleep Number Classic Series:

c2 Sleep Number Bed:

c2 Sleep Number Bed is the original model that launched a sleep revolution. With a single touch adjustable air-chamber design of this bed allows to change the bed’s firmness from pillowy soft to pleasantly firm. This bed comes with a comfort layer of 8-inch Plush-style mattress and soft to touch knit fabric.

c3 Sleep Number Bed:

c3 Sleep number bed comes with a 9-inch-style mattress and soft to touch knit fabric, which is breathable and help you to sleep comfortably. The plush comfort material adds an extra layer of contouring support. The wireless, backlit digital remote, which comes with this bed, provides for easy adjustments of the bed.

c4 Sleep Number Bed:

c4 Sleep number bed lets you take control the comfort level in your own hands. The handheld remote, which comes with this bed, allows you adjust the firmness of the bed. It comes with 10-inch-European-Style pillow-top features a soft and breathable knitted fabric and also with a contouring comfort material.

cSE Sleep Number Bed:

cSE sleep number bed is a special edition bed, which is only available for a limited time. This comes with a 10-inch-European-style Pillow-Top, which is knitted with breathable velvety soft sleeping surface. It also comes with 1 ½ inch layer of newest Intralux comfort layer.

Sleep Number Performance Series:

p5 Sleep Number Bed:

p5 Sleep Number Bed is the most popular adjustable mattress model, that helps you to take control of the comfort in your own hands. It comes with a 11-inch European-style super-soft pillow-top with soft and breathable knitted fabric and a full 2-inch exclusive Intralux comfort material. It comes with unique zones, which naturally supports your body curves.

p6 Sleep Number Bed:

p6 sleep number bed comes with a generous layer of the latest comfort material, which is specially designed with fabric knitted 12-inch European-style Pillow-Top, which is combination of comfort layers for incredible pressure-point relief. It is designed in such a way that it reduces pressure and enhances air circulation for a more comfortable sleeping temperature.

p7 Sleep Number Memory Foam Bed:

p7 sleep number memory foam bed is unique variant of Sleep Number beds, which combines the memory foam mattress comfort and setting your ideal level of firmness. It allows you and your partner to enjoy the feel of slow-response memory foam, without any comprise for the freedom for personalizing the comfort on each side of the bed. It comes with a 10-inches contemporary-style bed and with soft and breathable knitted Pillow-Top.

Sleep Number Innovation Series:

i8 Sleep Number Bed:

i8 sleep number bed helps you to have finest quality sleep that you deserve to have. It comes with a 12-inch Duvet-style Pillow-top, which features exclusive comfort material for contouring support, and also with breathable all-natural sleeping surface softened with aloe vera. This helps you to stay in just the right temperature throughout the night.

i10 Sleep Number Bed:

i10 sleep number bed provides pure comfort and most personalized sleep that you can have. This comes with 13-inch Duvet-style Pillow-top, featuring a soft and breathable fabric knit. The Balance material, featuring Outlast Platinum technology, which comes with this bed, minimizes the temperature swings that lead to sleep disruptions. There by providing pure comfortable and personalized sleep.

For further information Sleep Number Beds

Three- and 6-month data from the Australian first-in-man study evaluating the safety and efficacy of the HGNS System were presented by Peter Eastwood, PhD, as part of the session, “New Treatment Approaches for Lung Disease: Late Breaking Abstracts,” at the American Thoracic Society (ATS) 2010 International Conference. The findings show the HGNS System reduced the severity of OSA by an average of over 50%, as measured by the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI).

“These results demonstrate the potential benefits the HGNS System could provide to patients who do not tolerate continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy,” said Eastwood, senior research fellow at the West Australian Sleep Disorders Research Institute, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, professor at the School of Anatomy and Human Biology, University of Western Australia, and an investigator with this study. “In most patients, the Apnex HGNS System reduced the severity of their OSA condition, allowing them to sleep better and feel better.”

Patients also experienced significant improvements in symptoms, as measured by multiple quality of life surveys. Patients tolerated the treatment well, with an average of 6.5 hours of use each night. There were no device failures during the study.

“These data give us confidence that the HGNS System works, patients use it, and patients sleep better because of it,” said Robert Atkinson, Apnex Medical president and CEO. “They have improved oxygen levels during sleep and are waking up less, which we believe can lead to better overall health. We are learning a tremendous amount about this new therapy, which we believe will lead to even better outcomes through therapy adjustment and patient selection. We are excited about our ongoing clinical trials in the United States and Australia, the results of which will support future applications for commercial approval.”

Source: Sleep Review