Alarm tones, music and their elements: A mixed methods analysis of reported waking sounds for the prevention of sleep inertia.

Abstract

Sleep inertia is a potentially dangerous reduction in human alertness and occurs 0 - 4 hours after waking. The type of sound people set as their alarm for waking has been shown to reduce the effects of sleep inertia, however, the elemental musical factors that underpin these waking sounds and their relationship remain unclear. The goal of this research is to understand how a particular sound or music chosen to assist waking may counteract sleep inertia, and more specifically, what elements of these sounds may contribute to its reduction using a mix methods analysis. Through an anonymous, self-report online questionnaire, fifty participants (N = 50) reported attributes of their preferred waking sound, their feeling towards the waking sound, and symptoms of sleep inertia after waking. This data enabled the analysis and comparison between these responses to define statistically significant interactions. Our results show that there is no significant relationship between sleep inertia and the reported waking sound, nor the subjects feeling towards this sound. However, we found that the melodicity of a chosen waking sound does effect sleep inertia. A sound that is perceived as melodic, produces less sleep inertia in comparison to a sound considered to be neutral (neither unmelodic nor melodic). Furthermore, a secondary analysis reveals that this is an important factor for waking stimulus design as it suggests that the amount of perceived rhythm will affect the perception of melody, and in turn, may influence the severity of sleep inertia on a secondary level. Our results reveal that the inclusion of detailed descriptive terms (musical elements) in addition to macro classifications (e.g. \"pop music\") for stimulus testing would benefit future research and our understanding of waking audios effects on sleep inertia.