The Backed Pack: Onkyo-powered Kokoon headphones help you drift off to tunes then measure sleep quality

Each week our friends at Backerjack provide an update on a hot crowdfunded tech gadget. This week we profile Kokoon, which has raised more than half a million dollars, quintupling its funding goal with more than a month to go.

Countless people around the world suffer from trouble sleeping, with 70 million of them in the United States alone. Obviously, getting enough sleep has been an issue since the beginning of time, and as such people are constantly looking for new tools to help.

One is the Kokoon, sleep headphones made in partnership with audio giant Onkyo. This partnership has birthed what are claimed to be stellar-sounding headphones for everyday use. In addition, they’re also EEG-equipped headphones that not only help people fall asleep, but provide clinical-quality sleep data, too. A Bluetooth 4.0 connection to a smartphone facilitates the use of the Kokoon app, allowing users to set intelligent alarms for power naps, recovery naps, or a full night’s sleep. These alarms, in addition to its range of sleep aids and techniques, make the Kokoon a complete smart-sleep approach.

Headphones don’t have the best reputation for being comfortable, so the team over at Kokoon have developed custom-mold technology to address the issue. By using a combination of cooling gel cushions, air flow, and both active and passive noise-canceling technologies, Kokoon’s developers hope to help anyone grab a few moments of shut-eye no matter where they may find themselves. The Kokoon folds up into the size of a book.

A wide range of apps are also available to help with things like meditation and lucid dreaming, showing the product’s versatility. A pair of Kokoon headphones goes for $189 and are slated for delivery in September 2015. The $100,000 campaign ends July 10th, 2015.

The Kokoon is a neat idea we’ve seen before, albeit in a smaller form factor, in the Hush earplugs. These are also made to be worn during naps or a full night’s sleep, but they boast a more inconspicuous design along with the ability to still take calls from pre-selected contacts if need be. Kokoon is a more comprehensive experience, offering all manner of sleep aids and techniques, but it does rely on noise-canceling to do so — something Hush doesn’t.