What actually happens when you record snoring with a phone app
I tried recording my own snoring with a phone app for one night. Loud sound lasted 1 minute, peaking at 02:19. I only write what this one record can actually say.
Checking my own night's sound, once
A few people have told me my snoring is loud. I cannot hear my own voice or sound while I am asleep, so I had no way to check whether that was true, or how long it actually lasted.
I learned there is an app that records the night's sound on a phone, so I decided to try it for one night. No special equipment is needed. The phone I already use every day is enough.
Recording sounds like a big step, but there is not much to actually do. Open the app before sleeping, tap once, and leave it alone until morning. Nothing needs to be touched in between.
There are probably several ways to check a night's sound, but what I tried this time is the method that takes the least effort: leaving the phone to record on its own the whole time I sleep. Nobody else has to listen for me, and nothing has to be attached to my body.
The reason I tried it is simple. Every time someone told me it was loud, not having any way to check it myself kept bothering me. I wanted to see an actual record, even from just one night.
This article only writes what was left on the morning screen after trying it for one night. I only say what I could confirm by listening back myself.
Tapping to end the recording does not put the result on screen right away. After a short wait, it showed up added to the morning list instead.
What was left from the night of August 30
On the night of August 30 I recorded for 1 hour and 9 minutes. That is shorter than usual, but nothing special was set on the app's side; that night's recording simply ended at that length.
Counting back through the past 14 days of records, this was the eleventh night recorded. I have not recorded every single night, but I have managed to keep it going for a stretch recently.
At 1 hour and 9 minutes, this is on the short side compared with what I have recorded before. I decide the start and end myself with a tap, so a night when I fell asleep late, or one I stopped partway through, can end up recorded this short.
What was left on the morning screen: loud sound for 1 minute, peaking at 02:19. How I felt on waking was "ordinary."
A shorter recording does not mean fewer items show up on the screen. The loud minutes, the peak, and how I felt on waking are laid out the same way every time.
The loud minutes are not long at all. Still, they were not zero, and that is what I learned this time. On feeling alone, I do not think I would have noticed this one minute.
The single loudest moment can be played back in my own ears from the app's screen. The second and third loudest moments are kept the same way, and I can check them in order.
A short tag can also be added afterward, based on how that night felt. I did not add one this time, but adding or not adding a tag does not change that night's numbers.
Recording and your record are free, always. The sound is sent nowhere. Only the loud stretches are kept.
A method that is just placing the phone
What I actually did was put the phone by my pillow and tap once before sleeping. Screen down, in the usual spot. Recording keeps going after the screen goes dark, and I end it with a long press in the morning.
Sound recorded closer picks up louder, so I keep the spot the same every night: not on the pillow itself, on the small table right beside it.
The screen before sleep only checks the microphone and the free space. Once that is confirmed, one tap starts the night, and it keeps recording until I end it myself.
Through the night, the phone itself does not appear to be doing anything unusual. The screen stays dark, no notifications come through, and nothing on it changes until I tap it the next morning.
It does not have to start at exactly the same time every night either. On a night I forget to tap before sleeping, that night simply is not recorded, and starting the same way again the next night is enough.
I have not done anything special about the battery either. Just charging it before bed as usual has been enough; recording has never stopped partway through the night.
I did not pay any special attention to the phone's orientation or how the charging cable was connected either. I just placed it on the table by the pillow and plugged it in, as usual.
For anyone who wants something simpler, recording a whole night with the phone's built-in voice memo app also lets you listen back afterward. It does not total up the loud minutes or the peak on its own, so the only difference is the effort that takes.
Being asked for microphone permission only happened once. It can be changed later in settings, and without it nothing is recorded and nothing is lost.
What stays, and what does not
Where the sound goes is explained the same way every time, in one sentence: "The sound is sent nowhere. Only the loud stretches are kept." On the night of August 30 as well, the whole 1 hour and 9 minutes of sound was not kept as it is; only the loud 1 minute and the short stretch right around it stayed on the phone.
The morning screen is not just that night's numbers; there is also a place to line up past nights. I can check whether the loud minutes were more or less than usual, alongside the earlier records.
The single loudest moment can be played back in my own ears. Every other minute, the quiet ones, is never kept at all. Only a handful of moments, counting down from the single loudest, can actually be played back.
The recording stays on this phone for 14 nights and the oldest is cleared automatically; there is nothing to delete by hand. Even after the sound itself is gone, the numbers, the loud minutes and the peak, stay behind.
Keeping this record has not cost anything extra so far. Starting a recording and checking the morning screen have both worked the same way every time, at no added cost.
What Nagi can do is record the night's loud minutes and peak, and let me listen back to them in the morning. It does not judge.
What I know for now
What I learned this time is only that my own night of August 30 was loud for 1 minute. Whether that is a lot or a little is not something one night alone can say.
I do not think this explains why I was told it was loud. What I learned is only the length of the sound on the night of August 30, and when it happened.
I plan to keep recording the same way for a few more nights and line them up. Once enough nights are gathered, I may be able to say whether a given night was louder or quieter than usual. Even then, I will not hand out tonight's answer in advance.
Keeping it as my own record, rather than asking someone else to listen for me, feels like the biggest difference this method makes.
Checking, only after morning, the night sound I cannot hear myself. That this is possible just by placing the phone is what I learned this time.
For anything about treatment or making it stop, a doctor is the surest person to ask. All Nagi can do is record the night's sound so you can hear back, in the morning, how long it was loud and when it peaked. No verdicts, only the record.