| abstract |
A sleep-aiding device 99 is provided to be worn on the user’s head to aid sleeping, comprising a mask 1 enclosing a breathing space and including at least one sensor 7, 26 which senses a trigger event, and an oxygen regulator 3, 22, 27 which is operative to vary an oxygen flow from an oxygen supply in response to a trigger event in order to adjust the amount of oxygen in the breathing space. The sensor may be a nasal oximeter positioned over the bridge of the user’s nose, used to determine the blood oxygen concentration of the user. The sensor may also be a gas probe 56 (Figure 4) measuring the amount of argon, carbon dioxide, nitrogen or oxygen within the breathing space. The oxygen regulator may comprise a filter 27, 37 with a semi-permeable membrane which separates oxygen from other gases in air. The oxygen regulator may also instead comprise a system of one-way inlet and outlet valves 22, 32. |