2 billion people around the world have trouble sleeping. Anker and Bose are eyeing this market worth hundreds of billions. | Zhiliao

Author | Zhang Ziyi

Editor | Yuan Silai

How many novel products will people try to get a good night's sleep?

In Anker's business landscape, a product in a niche market has achieved remarkable revenue - the latest generation A30 of Soundcore Sleep sleep headphones. This year, it raised $3.09 million on Kickstarter. An industry insider told Yingke, "The cumulative sales of Anker's second - generation sleep headphones have exceeded one million units." However, a person from the Anker brand said that the sales are still far from one million units.

Sleep problems have long become an "epidemic" among urban people.

The World Health Organization points out that the global sleep disorder rate is about 27%. A 2020 study by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) found that 14.5% of American adults have difficulty falling asleep. According to Google Trends data, the online search volume for "insomnia symptoms" has been on the rise in the past five years, reaching a significant peak every January.

Data from Straits research shows that the global sleep market was worth $67.76 billion in 2024. Sleep disorders such as parasomnia, insomnia, hypersomnia, and sleep apnea have driven a significant increase in the demand for sleep aids such as wearables and smart bedding.

However, this seemingly promising business is fraught with challenges, and even large companies have run aground.

In 2018, Bose launched a sleep headphone called Sleepbuds. This product was a new category that Bose developed outside of its traditional noise - canceling headphones and also opened up a new user scenario for wireless headphones.

After that, Huami, 1More, and Anker successively launched similar products. But three years ago, Bose announced the discontinuation of Sleepbuds, citing that the product did not meet the expected sales and target audience.

The withdrawal of Bose Sleepbuds has raised new questions in the market: Is the sleep headphone market really a large one?

Things soon took a turn. After Bose shut down the Sleepbuds project, three engineers who led the project jointly acquired the core technology of Bose's sleep product line and founded the brand Ozlo.

Ozlo's flagship product raised $8.16 million and $1.41 million on the two crowdfunding platforms Indiegogo and Kickstarter respectively, with nearly 36,000 supporters. Apparently, the sleep headphone business has room for growth.

It is an undeniable fact that the demand for sleep aids exists now and will continue to thrive in the future. As these pioneers are groping their way forward, they need to overcome many technical and market challenges.

01 The Inherent Challenges of Small Size and Battery Life

Since sleep headphones need to be worn overnight, they have high requirements for both comfort and battery life.

Sleep headphones need to be small, comfortable to wear without being noticed, and at the same time have good battery life to avoid affecting the user experience due to power outage during use.

Wireless headphones are a fairly mature category. From the form of over - ear headphones to the popular open - ear headphones and bone - conduction headphones in recent years, although they are not large in size, it is impossible to wear them all night.

The small size of headphones and long battery life are inherently contradictory, which poses a major challenge in the design of sleep headphones.

Robin, the founder of the bone - conduction sports headphone brand Moecen, told us that it is not easy to make good sleep headphones. This is a product with inherent contradictions. It needs to be small, have long battery life, and also have noise - canceling capabilities. The noise - canceling algorithm has a strong correlation with battery life, and a small size may sacrifice battery life and noise - canceling performance. "Structural design is the biggest challenge."

Therefore, sleep headphones have to sacrifice some common functions. For example, some products cannot further compress the physical space, so they sacrifice the communication function and can only be used for sleeping.

Manufacturers have come up with different ways to balance. For example, 1More's SleepBuds offer an "offline mode" to reduce power consumption in pursuit of a small size.

Fred, the product manager of 1More's SleepBuds, told Yingke that to achieve the comfort of SleepBuds, including not pressing on the ears when sleeping on the side, the headphone size is designed to be extremely small and lightweight. In the structural stacking design, only very small - sized high - density batteries can be used.

In addition, to ensure a full night's sleep (more than 10 hours), efforts must be made to reduce power consumption. For example, selecting ultra - low - power MCUs, storing soothing sleep music locally in the headphones to achieve local playback mode, and optimizing the hardware and software architecture and code to achieve ultra - low power consumption and increase battery life. Although the music library is limited, it can greatly reduce power consumption.

The challenge in the space stacking of sleep headphones may also be an important reason why Ozlo spent a year negotiating with Bose to acquire Sleepbuds. After all, Sleepbuds were on the market for nearly four years. With years of research by a large - company team, there must be a deep accumulation of technology in product form.

Another product difficulty is the high requirement for wearing comfort.

One of Ozlo's selling points is "no pain when sleeping on the side", and comfort has indeed become a major reason for overseas users to praise Ozlo.

Ozlo's products basically follow the form of Bose Sleepbuds and also use the iconic shark - fin design of Sleepbuds. Different from the convex design of traditional earplugs, it uses soft silicone material. The umbrella - shaped earplug tip fits the ear canal, and the flexible ear wing fits the auricle. It can be worn stably in various sleeping positions such as lying on the side or on the back and can disperse the pressure on the ears.

The Sleep A30 headphones of Anker's audio brand Soundcore also adopt an in - ear design, combining the principle of 3D ergonomics. The earplug part is made of soft material to ensure comfort and sealing when worn. The headphones are equipped with two sensors that can intelligently detect environmental noise and perform corresponding noise - canceling processing.

Overall, currently no product can achieve a perfect balance in terms of size, comfort, noise - canceling, and battery life. Due to the low level of maturity, this market is still far from booming.

02 How Do Sleep Headphones Aid Sleep?

In terms of helping people sleep, most sleep headphones either physically block noise or provide white noise to create a more suitable sleeping environment for users.

Taking Ozlo as an example, the umbrella - shaped structure of its headphones first achieves noise reduction through physical isolation. The built - in Beta sleep algorithm can recognize the sleep state. When the system determines that the user has fallen asleep, it will automatically gradually reduce the volume of the currently playing audio and switch to one of three preset modes: continuously play masking tracks throughout the night, play for a set time and then retain passive noise reduction, or gradually fade into silence while maintaining the noise - canceling function.

Anker's Sleep A30 also adopts a similar physical noise - canceling approach. In terms of the noise - canceling function, Sleep A30 offers multiple modes for users to choose from, including active noise cancellation (ANC) on, adaptive, and off modes. Users can flexibly adjust the noise - canceling effect according to their needs.

In addition to noise - canceling technology, sleep headphones also conduct some health analysis around sleep.

In addition to meeting the charging needs, Ozlo's charging case is equipped with an environmental sensor. When charging, it can monitor the room's noise, light, and temperature data in real - time and generate a sleep report through the app the next day. Through the supporting app of Anker's Sleep A30, users can access AI brain - wave audio to help them sleep.

In Robin's view, the sleep market is a very large segment. Sleep problems are not only caused by environmental factors but also have pathological reasons, including emotions, stress, and depression. Both Ozlo and Soundcore are providing some acoustic solutions, but from a clinical perspective, white noise does not really solve or improve sleep problems. It only makes the nerves fatigued to help people fall asleep.

In the book Why We Sleep?, Matthew Walker, a British scientist who studies sleep, wrote: "One reason society has been indifferent to sleep is that science has historically been unable to explain why we need it. Sleep remains one of the most inexplicable biological mysteries."

To solve sleep problems, people have searched for many sleep techniques and methods and invented many sleep - related technological products. Some people avoid drinking liquids two hours before bedtime, some drink herbal tea or lettuce water containing magnesium or melatonin, and tech enthusiasts use smart bed frames, noise - machine apps, and smart pajamas.

According to data from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, one - third of Americans use sleep electronic trackers. These trackers monitor sleep patterns and potential diseases such as sleep apnea by tracking heart rate, body temperature, and breathing patterns. Some trackers provide suggestions for optimizing the environment, such as adjusting the room's noise level and temperature.

For example, the sleep company StimScience once launched a personalized smart sleep headband called Somnee, which helps users sleep by reading their brainwaves and stimulating nerves; the aise Bao Bao smart mattress uses a smart program to control and helps users sleep through methods such as gentle stroking and stretching.

Ultimately, achieving stable, long - lasting, and good sleep remains a difficult problem from ancient times to the present. Rousseau once suffered from severe insomnia and gradually recovered by picking herbs, growing flowers, and doing physical labor. Alexandre Dumas fils often had trouble sleeping and would walk around the room all night.

After the Industrial Revolution, sleep has become an enemy of consumption and production. The author Jonathan Crary once summarized: "In the neoliberal paradigm of globalization theorists, only losers sleep."

Constant anxiety, the continuous pursuit of profit and wealth, and the prevalence of consumerism may be the root causes of people's difficulty in truly falling asleep today.

"Sleep headphones mainly use process - intervention methods. Perhaps by studying how the human nervous system can quickly enter the sleep state, we can better design this kind of products." Robin told Yingke.