Sleepscore Labs, the folks behind one of the best sleep monitors we've taken to bed recently, looks set to add a wearable element to its setup after snapping up digital health company Sleep.ai.
Sleep.ai, which was founded in 2014, is a Netherlands-based digital health company that has developed a wearable and companion apps that are able to detect when a user is snoring or grinding their teeth. That action is known as bruxism and with the ability to detect either action it can be used to help dentists monitor patients after they've begun dental treatment for those issues.
Wareable verdict: SleepScore Max review
From the app it is also able to help detect sleep apnea, a sleep disorder that Fitbit is hoping it can explore further with its own wearables. The disorder has some pretty serious knock-on effects if it goes undetected, including an increase in the risk of high blood pressure and obesity.
"We are only at the beginning of what we can do to help improve people's lives by diagnosing and improving their sleep health, helping them get better treatment and outcomes," said Michiel Allessie, Sleep.ai's founder and CEO. Allessie will join the SleepScore Labs team as part of the acquisition.
Sleepscore Labs is formed of a collaboration between sleep experts ResMed and Dr Mehmet Oz, a professor of surgery at Columbia University who also hosts the Daily Dose radio show. Its most recent device, the SleepScore Max is a contactless sensor that sits on your bedside table and, as well as monitoring sleep, can read things like room lighting and temperature, which can impact on sleep.
We praised it in our review for producing accurate data, meaningful feedback and having an unobtrusive design, so it'll certainly be interesting to see how the team at Sleepscore integrates Sleep.ai's tech to further enhance its sleep health monitoring abilities.
How we test
By Michael Sawh
Michael Sawh has been covering the wearable tech industry since the very first Fitbit landed back in 2011. Previously the resident wearable tech expert at Trusted Reviews, he also marshaled the features section of T3.com.
He also regularly contributed to T3 magazine when they needed someone to talk about fitness trackers, running watches, headphones, tablets, and phones.
Michael writes for GQ, Wired, Coach Mag, Metro, MSN, BBC Focus, Stuff, TechRadar and has made several appearances on the BBC Travel Show to talk all things tech.
Michael is a lover of all things sports and fitness-tech related, clocking up over 15 marathons and has put in serious hours in the pool all in the name of testing every fitness wearable going. Expect to see him with a minimum of two wearables at any given time.