Care For Your Sleep

Many people have problems waking up early in the morning using alarm clocks. Some can’t wake up with the sound, some believe that alarms make too much shrill and avoid using them. Recently, the experts at Victoria University in St. Albans, Australia published a study exploring the most common alarm clock sounds and their effectiveness.

The scientists intended to study the effects of sound waves on ow fast a person ca wake up. The experiments involved several dozens of participants, who were exposed on early stages of their sleep to nine various types of alarm sounds. It is a known fact that the first three hours of sleep are the deepest, therefore it is harder to wake up and hear, for example, a smoke alarm during the first 3 hours of sleep.

The specialists found out that the participants showed the best results when they were hearing a square-wave signal with the frequency of about 520 Hz. This frequency is corresponding to baritone, a low male singing voice type. Australian scientists say that square-wave signal is very effective for waking up older people, children and the drunk. At that, the experiments showed that the higher the alarm tone is, the less effective the alarm is. The finding of this study were published in the Journal of Sleep Research.