Emerging Technology

The Emerging Technology Committee monitors and evaluates emerging and evolving technologies that impact the practice of sleep medicine. This committee is responsible for developing AASM member resources that provide information and analysis on emerging consumer and clinical sleep technology and potential ways to incorporate this technology into clinical practice, when/if appropriate.

Access recent resources created by the Emerging Technology Committee, including articles, the #SleepTechnology directory of popular sleep devices, a glossary of terms, and more.

Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine

To address the growing use of consumer sleep technology and sleep apps, the committee published a position paper and follow-up articles in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

• Consumer Sleep Technology: An American Academy of Sleep Medicine Position Statement
• Consumer Sleep Technologies: How to Balance the Promises of New Technology with Evidence-Based Medicine and Clinical Guidelines
• Evaluating consumer and clinical sleep technologies: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine update
• Photoplethysmography—new applications for an old technology: a sleep technology review

Montage

The committee published articles in Montage, the AASM’s quarterly magazine for members.

• Digital health technologies and their impact on sleep medicine (Spring 2020)
• Emerging Sleep Technologies: Novel Obstructive Sleep Apnea Treatment Alternatives (Fall 2021)
  • Detailed information about emerging sleep apnea treatment alternatives can be found in this supplemental table, which compares devices side-by-side.
• Photoplethysmography Sensors Improve Sleep Data from Wearables (Spring 2022)
• Novel devices and applications for diagnosing obstructive sleep apnea (Vol. 8, Issue 2, 2023)
• Digital cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia: Platforms and characteristics (Vol. 9, Issue 1)
• Staying current with insomnia-related technologies (Vol. 9, Issue 3)

#SleepTechnology

The AASM Emerging Technology Committee developed the #SleepTechnology directory to familiarize AASM members with new and popular sleep devices and apps. The listings provide concise, at-a-glance summaries of both the capabilities and limitations of this technology. This resource will continue to be updated with new listings, including the addition of summaries for novel clinical devices that patients may want to discuss with sleep medicine providers. Visit #SleepTechnology.

Technology Report

Members of the Emerging Technology Committee, in collaboration with the AASM Telemedicine Presidential Committee and Artificial Intelligence in Sleep Medicine Committee, highlighted several clinical or consumer sleep technology advancements that took on new importance during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Read the report, “Adapting to a Global Pandemic.”

Blog Post

A blog post on AASM’s website provides “behind-the-scenes” insight about the #SleepTechnology resource. Read Consumer sleep technology: Guidance for sleep clinicians.

Quick Reference Guide

This helpful guide created by the committee defines common terms related to consumer sleep technology and app and provides information on sensors. Read the quick reference guide.

Talking Sleep Podcast

Are you overwhelmed by the constantly changing landscape of sleep technologies? Having trouble keeping up with your patient’s latest sleep tracker? In an episode of Talking Sleep, members of the Emerging Technology Committee discuss AASM resources to evaluate sleep-related clinical and consumer devices to help further your understanding of sleep technology.

Listen to an episode of the Talking Sleep podcast for a conversation with members of the Emerging Technology Committee about factors to consider regarding the potential clinical use of wearable devices and other novel sleep technology.

As technology continues to permeate every aspect of our lives, the subset of sleep-related technology continues to expand. The AASM Emerging Technology committee continues to assess both clinical and consumer sleep technology. We have previously discussed consumer and clinical sleep technology that largely centered around snoring and OSA. In this episode, we talk with committee members Drs. Shalini Paruthi and Sachin Shah about the latest sleep technology for insomnia.