Ozlo, a sleep aid ear buds creator, has teamed up with a renowned mental wellness company to integrate restorative audio content into its product.
The sleep tech developer revealed its new collaboration with Calm and the launch of limited edition co-branded Sleepbuds on Nov 13. These ear canal gadgets cost US$349 and come with a 1-year subscription to Calm’s top-ranking meditation, stress relief, relaxation and sleep soundscapes app. It has over 175 million downloads on the App Store and 4.8 stars based on more than 1.9 million reviews.
“Our aim has always been simple: help people fall asleep, stay asleep, and wake up restored,” commented Ozlo CEO N.B. Patil.
His company’s Ozlo Sleepbuds work by utilizing noise masking audio technology and are complemented by biometric sleep monitoring capabilities. They pair with a smartphone app to provide personalized insights about a user’s sleep cycle. Now, their audio features have been expanded significantly with the addition of Calm’s content.
“Pairing Ozlo’s noise-masking tech with Calm’s world-class stories, soundscapes, and meditations brings that vision closer for more people,” Patil added.
Ozlo’s Senior Vice President of Marketing, Trudy Koen, boasted that the partnership represented two companies coming together to create something “truly greater” than the sum of their parts.
Furthermore, Calm’s VP of Partnerships, Fergal Walker, says he was able to get his hands on a pair months before their public launch and that he loves them. He claims to have tried countless sleep aids with no success before testing these out.
“This is different. This WORKS!” Walker said on social media. “I have had them for 5 months now. These Calm Ozlo buds are literally the very first that genuinely stay in ear all night and work.”
Ozlo was recognized as an Innovation Awards Honoree in the Wearable Technologies category at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The company was founded by a pair of former Bose engineers in 2022.
In 2017, Apple Inc (NASDAQ: AAPL) recognized Calm’s mobile application as the iPhone App of the Year. Additionally, TIME Magazine deemed Calm as one of the world’s 100 most influential companies in 2022.
The downside? This sleep tech device is very expensive. There are currently no comparable products with this specific combination of features available, but they are the priciest sleepbuds on the market nonetheless.
Certain people, such as those who have commented in the r/Ozlo subreddit forum, feel that competing earphones like the Soundcore A30 and A20 buds offer equivalent noise masking tech and comfort at a lower price point. Others have also complained that the Sleepbuds have pairing problems, frequent glitches, charging/battery life issues and inadequate noise blocking in certain cases.
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