The Bluetooth headphones, too, are nothing to sneeze at. They’re easy to pair with your phone and while they don’t have mind-blowing quality or active noise cancellation, they do get loud enough to drown out any environment. There are 30 steps of volume control, so you can dial in the audio precisely. I‘ve used the Manta Sound to fall asleep in a tent at many music festivals, both in the dead of summer and on 30-degree Fahrenheit nights. Even with world-renowned bass being sound-checked at 10 am and my neighbors starting their pregame at the crack of dawn, I slept like a baby, the sounds of a box fan being piped directly into my ears. Or in a hotel room, while my friends chatted, watched TV, and played music on a speaker, I was blissfully unaware and fully asleep. This would be impossible for me without the Manta Sound (believe me when I say I have tried other methods). The battery lasts for 20 hours and charges via USB-C, and I’ve never had the headphones disconnect from my phone on their own. The battery automatically shuts off after 30 minutes of no audio streaming. The mask also has a built-in microphone to take phone calls, but I’ve never used that feature. My phone only rings while on “Do Not Disturb” for a very few number of people, in which case I pop the mask off and answer normally.
The flip side of this immersion is that I sometimes find myself sleeping too soundly. I frequently wake up disoriented after using the Manta Sound, wondering what year it is once I wake up. And it freaks me out a bit to be so far removed from the world. With my eyes and ears completely covered, I have no idea what’s going on around me. If I went to festivals solo, for example, I might not use this mask, since I’d be completely unaware of any weather events or people walking through my campsite. But that immersion is ideal in some instances—I would’ve killed for this mask when I worked third shift and was frequently woken up by birds, lawnmowers, or the godforsaken sun. The Manta Sound is like blackout curtains for your brain.
Hear No Evil
I’ve tried other sleep solutions before, to varying degrees of effectiveness. Ear plugs and sleep headphones tend to not jibe with my preferred sleeping style, also known as “spinning around like a rotisserie chicken until I find exactly the right spot.” And even other eye masks have been historically difficult to get adjusted so they sit correctly without pulling my hair or pressing awkwardly on my head. This mask eliminates those issues. There’s nothing jammed in or falling out of my ear canal, and there’s no pressure squashing my eyes or nose. And though those other solutions might be cheaper, depending on what you use, I think it’s worth the extra price to get a product that helps you sleep without disrupting or disturbing you. The Manta Sound just works.
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Photograph: Louryn Strampe