Brand new Calmer colours
From $38.95
Small product. Huge benefits.
A small device worn in the ear to reduce stress. Calmer features a unique technology that reduces distortion in our ears and calms your environment in a subtle, but potentially life-changing way.
• Reduces stressful frequencies without muffling sound
• Perfect for: sensitive hearing, hyper-sensitivity to sound associated with autism, hyperacusis, misophonia, noise related stress & other hearing conditions
• Soothes sound sensitivities & helps you feel calmer
Useful when…
In noisy areas • Travelling / commuting • In the workplace • Studying • Anywhere you'd like a calmer environment
Hearing Sensitivities
Since launching Calmer we've heard how much they've been helping autistic people with managing noise sensitivities and people with sensitive hearing. Read our blogs from people who got in touch with us to let us know how helpful they’d found them.
Read NowCalmer Customers
A small wearable device
Calmer sits barely visible in the ear and uses revolutionary, non-electric technology to reduce mid and high frequency distortion without having a detrimental effect on our hearing.
The result is a natural way to minimise today’s constant barrage of environmental noise stressors which have a negative impact on our mental and physical well-being.
Calmer reduces stress by removing distortion that would usually trigger the human ‘fight or flight’ response.
While this response was a vital part of our evolution to alert us to the slightest sound or threat, in today’s modern world where we no longer need to be alert to the snap of a twig, this added resonance is loading us with unnecessary stress.
Calmer, Sensitive Hearing and Autism
Calmer helps users with sensitive hearing conditions such as Misophonia, Hypersensitivity and Hyperacusis. Users have found that their audio world becomes more bearable when they wear Calmer, with irritating noises being reduced to a much more manageable level.
Hyper-sensitivities (over-responsiveness) and hypo-sensitivities (under-responsiveness) to a wide range of stimuli are often things that autistic people have to deal with on a daily basis. These can include sensitivities to sounds, smell, touch and taste.
Many autistic people are hyper-sensitive to certain sounds and many find bright lights, smells and tastes overwhelming.
Calmer is a small device worn in the ear to reduce stress. We originally designed Calmer to specifically help us all to deal with noises that cause us stress and anxiety. They do this without reducing the volume so you don’t feel disconnected from the world.
We’ve had a lot of feedback from autistic people who have let us know just how helpful they have found Calmer in managing their day to day sound sensitivities and how much of an impact they've had on their day to day life.
Using Calmer
Here’s a graph to show you how Calmer is affecting sound energy in our ears. As you can see, the blue area shows a reduction in unwanted energy (distortion) between the frequencies of roughly 2 kHz - 8 kHz when Calmer is worn. As a result, this produces a much more even response and therefore an improved and more pleasant sound.
The black area (without Calmer) shows the natural peaks of energy that result in harsh noises that trigger a stress response.
As these trigger frequencies are reduced, so too are your stress levels.
How it works
Calmer removes the resonant effect of the Concha by using a tiny waveguide inside our ears. The Concha is the small shell shape that connects to our ear canal which normally resonates mid frequency sounds.
By removing this resonance, mid frequency sounds have none of their normal painful aspects.
“We conducted a range of tests on Calmer and found it to significantly reduce sound levels at middle to high frequencies (2 kHz – 8 kHz). This successfully meets Flare’s design objective.”
Gergely Orosz, ISVR Consulting
-
How does noise trigger a stress response?
Noise triggers a stress response in the Amygdala, a region of the brainstem. Our Amygdala learns what sounds might signal impending danger. When one of these sounds is detected, the Amygdala starts a release of cortisol (a stress hormone).
Noise = A sound or sounds, especially when it is unwanted, unpleasant, or loud.
Amygdala = A roughly almond-shaped mass of grey matter inside each cerebral hemisphere, involved with the experiencing of emotions. Shown to perform a primary role in the processing of memory, decision-making and emotional responses (including fear, anxiety, and aggression). Part of the Limbic system. Its job is to prioritise everything that comes into your brain – the smells, the sights, the tastes, the sounds, the feelings. There are so many things in our lives that we can’t handle being aware of all of them. Some are ignored to focus on others.
Cortisol = Cortisol is a steroid hormone that regulates a wide range of processes throughout the body, including metabolism and the immune response. It also has a very important role in helping the body respond to stress.
-
Resonance = Distortion
Why don’t we want distortion? Distortion is noise.
The definition of noise is unwanted sound, or sound that is judged to be unpleasant, loud or disruptive to hearing.
This distorted sound loads us negatively. Much like poor diet, pollutants, distorted vision, which all affect our well-being, the sound we hear has the same effect.
-
How Noise Affects Us
A knife scraping against a glass bottle is the most unpleasant sound for most human beings. Researchers from the Newcastle University and Welcome Trust Centre for Neuro-imaging at UCL, both in England, reported in the Journal of Neuroscience that when we hear unpleasant sounds, the auditory cortex and the Amygdala interact more intensely and process the negative emotions.
The Amygdala is a small almond shaped part of the brain that processes our emotions and aggression. It also controls fear responses and forms emotional memories. Its job is to prioritise everything that comes into your brain – the smells, the sights, the tastes, the sounds, the feelings. There are so many things in our lives that we can’t handle being aware of all of them. Some are ignored to focus on others.
-
Workplace Noise
A survey of 1,000 UK-based office workers for business solutions company The Remark Group found almost two thirds (65%) admitted they could not complete work on time because of noise in their workplace. Nearly half (44%) said that noise had a negative impact on their overall wellbeing, while more than 40% admitted reporting that noise at work caused them to feel stressed.
According to the survey, sudden bursts of noise are the most irritating in the workplace, with the most annoying being: colleagues’ telephone conversations (74%); personal conversations (65%); sudden laughter (62%); telephone ring tones (58%); doors slamming (56%); eating noises (55%); business conversations (53%); coughing/sneezing/sniffing (50%) and music (40%).
World Health Organisation
The World Health Organisation published evidence (2018) that unpleasant, loud or disruptive noise contributes to raised stress levels, a multitude of health issues and even increased risk of premature death.
Calmer’s technology is informed by research from Newcastle University and the Welcome Trust Centre for Neuro-imaging at UCL, which reported in the Journal of Neuroscience that many of the most unpleasant sounds, such as the scraping of a knife against a bottle, fall in the mid frequency range of about 2 kHz to 5 kHz.
Our ears have evolved to alert us to stress by adding over 20 dB of mid-range resonance, which destroys our ability to hear high definition sound or relax in our modern noisy world. This is known as HRTF (Head Related Transfer Function).