Sure, loud alarm clocks are very efficient at waking people up, but what if couples have different schedules? In such scenarios, earbud alarm clocks that wake up only the wearer are ideal.
People living together who have different schedules know how hard it is to hear the alarm clock twice in the morning. South Korean graduate Kyungmi Moon, the inventor of the earbud alarm clock, might be the savior of tormented couples. His concept intends to wake only the wearer of the device, leaving anyone else in the room to continue their sleep peacefully.
The two noise-canceling foam ear plugs connect via Bluetooth to a bedside clock that also acts as a charging station. The LED display of the main unit enables people to see the current time and when the alarm is set to go off.
Even though he came up with the idea after oversleeping with a pair of earbuds on, so that he didn’t have to hear a party taking place nearby, Moon did not develop this concept on his own. Instead, he was helped by two of his friends, Doyun Kim and Jinyong Park. The three designers plan to mass produce the earbud alarm clock, but only after getting some sort of recognition via a Reddot award. I’m pretty sure that when that happens, they will turn to such crowdfunding platforms as Kickstarter or Indiegogo to raise the money needed for mass production.
Images of the actual design have been posted on the Bournemouth News and Pictures Service website with a copyright mark the size of China. If Moon wants online publications to write about his concept, he’d better leave such practices behind, as they do him no honor.
It’s nice to see that the earbud alarm clocks also isolate exterior sound, thus allowing the wearer to get a good night’s sleep. However, I think that sleeping with such earbuds or with any earplugs that isolate sound might be very uncomfortable. The alternative I see in this case is represented by smartwatches or even better, smart handbands that wake people by vibrating gently. These also wake only the wearer, and create much less discomfort than the earbuds. That’s not to say that Kyungmi Moon’s idea is not good, but it remains to be seen how comfortable these earbud alarm clocks are, if they ever hit the market.
If you liked this post, please check the Yamaha Hi-Fi Bluetooth radio alarm clock and the Napwell sleeping mask.
