Introduction: Vibration Eye-mask

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This project is to design an eye-mask that could through vibration to wake people up when they snoring during sleep. It not only could be used at home, also public space like subway, library or office to keep up the image. The principle is made use of sounds sensor to perceive snore sound and motivate the vibration board. It has two level of frequency according to decibel. The battery is rechargeable and could use more than 100 times or stand by 18+ hours test by my own.

It comes out that users have totally different reaction about it. Some users feel comfortable and useful. Some users feel be annoyed by the frequent vibration so that interfere sleep. However, this is just what I expect. Before starting the project I did some research. Believe it or not, snoring is estimated to be the third most common cause of divorce in the US and Great Britain. Snoring can cause daytime symptoms that can cause serious problems in one's walking life and unfortunately, it is not just the snorer that suffers, the snorer's spouse can suffer just as much. From critical design perspective, the purpose of this project exactly is make users experience the bother they've brought to surroundings, which is called "empathy" in psychology. Hope through this project, people who have snoring problem can pay more attention to it and try to be considerate.

All files and code are attached and open source.

Step 1: Parts List

*I use Arduino Uno for test so few parts are optional.

1. Wire / Jumper Wire

2. USB Cable type A to B (optional)

3. Short Feather Male Headers

4. USB A/Micro Cable

5. Arduino Uno (optional)

6. 2 Lilypad Vibe Board

7. Switch

8. Arduino Trinket Backpack

9. Sound Sensor Module

10. Arduino Trinket Pro

11. Li-poly Battery 110mAh

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Soft material part:

12. Fabric you chose (recommend silky one for lining)

13. Elastic or Velcro

14. Shoulder Pads

Step 2: Prototyping the Circuit

I drew a sketch before starting electronic part. You could change the appearance you like. For this step I recommend using a breadboard to prototype the circuit. The fritzing diagram picture attached to this step shows the circuit I settled on. The circuit is pretty simple; It uses 2 lilypad vibe board, an Arduino trinket pro and a Sound Sensor Module with power source and a switch button. I set up pin 3 and 4 as output. When you have created the full circuit as shown in the fritzing sketch (without battery and switch are acceptable) you should be able to upload the Arduino code attached to this step to test if the circuit is working. To test this code, upload it to the Arduino and open the serial monitor.

* The frequency of vibration is according to the sensitivity you need. It's easy to change the number and times.*

After you've tested the circuit with the attached code you can move onto the next step where I will show you how I connected this circuit.

Attachments

Step 3: Soldering

Step 4: Sewing & Assembly

P1. Use an old eye-mask or create your own shape, according to it draw the outline and place the components to see how it fit.

P2. I chose two different texture of fabric. One is wear-resisting and waterproof as out case, another one is silky as lining. Don't forget to sew a zipper on the top.

P3. Cut the shoulder pads into suitable size and sew two vibe board on the position of eyes. If you like, you could add some decoration on it. (Like the fur yarn I did.)