Sleep noise analysis#

Sleep as Android can record significant sounds during your night, analyze ambient noise levels, and automatically classify events like snoring, talking, coughing, laughing, or a baby crying.

When enabled, Sleep Noise Analysis:

  • Monitors noise levels throughout the night and generates a Noise Graph.
  • Triggers recordings whenever a distinct sound (snore, speech, cough) occurs or when noise exceeds your chosen volume threshold.
  • Categorizes recordings automatically with tags like #snore, #talk, #laugh, #baby or #cough.

💡 Quick Tip: Place your phone close to you with the microphone clear and uncovered.

Recording in progress on the tracking screen

Recording on tracking screen

Key Settings Explained#

Navigate to Settings️ → Sleep noise analysis to customize your experience:

Setting What it Does Recommended Setup
Sound recognition Analyzes audio to identify snoring, talking, coughing, laughing, or baby crying. ON for detailed breakdown.
Anti-snoring Plays subtle cues (vibration or soft sound) to prompt you to change sleeping position when snoring is detected. ON if you want to curb snoring.
Record sleep noises Automatically saves audio snippets when noise triggers are met. ON to save clips.
Recording volume threshold Sets the minimum volume needed to trigger a recording. 15% - 25% (Default is 15%).
Best of sleep album Saves a copy of the favourite sound recordings (marked with a star) itno the local media storage ON if you like to have alternative access to the saved sounds.
Noise statistics Displays average noise levels under your daily sleep records. Enabled automatically with noise recording.
Automatic delete Clears unstarred audio clips automatically after 7 days to free up space. ON (Recommended).
Storage path Folder on your device where audio clips are saved. Default app storage.
Output format Switch between .m4a and .ogg audio formats. Default (.m4a).
Input format Switches between different options for the system sound recorder types (for debugging purposes only). Default (Recommended).

Understanding the Volume Threshold#

The Recording volume threshold controls how sensitive the recorder is:

  • 10% and less (Very Sensitive): Records almost everything, including quiet room hums, fans, or distant street noise.
  • 15% - 25% (Optimal Balance): Ideal for most bedrooms. Ignores faint background noise but catches snoring, sleep talking, and coughing.
  • 40% or more (Low Sensitivity): Only records very loud noises. Works best in bedrooms with high background noise level.

How to Play Your Recordings#

You can listen to your saved sleep noises in three simple ways:

  1. From the Main Screen (Noise Card):

    • On your main screen, look for the Noise Card.
    • Tap the card to quickly replay highlights from the night (a selection of the most interesting sounds)

  2. From the Main Menu (Noise Library):

    • Open the Left ☰ Menu → Noise.
    • Browse or filter clips by tags (e.g., #snore or #talk).

  3. Directly from Your Sleep Graph:

    • Look for the Microphone mic icon on your sleep graph timeline.
    • Tap and drag to select a highlighted period on the graph around this icon.
    • Tap the Play icon in the top right corner to listen to what happened at that exact minute.

❓ FAQs & Troubleshooting#

No sound recordings and flat noise graph (no data recorded)

If your noise graph shows a flat line with no fluctuations and no audio clips were saved, the app was blocked from accessing the microphone:

  • Missing Microphone Permission: Ensure Sleep as Android has microphone permissions enabled in your phone’s System Settings → Apps → Sleep → Permissions.
  • Microphone Conflict (Lost Access): On Android, only one app can access the microphone at a time. If another background app (voice assistant, white noise generator, or call recorder) is actively using the mic, Sleep as Android will lose mic access. Close other audio-recording or voice-activated apps before tracking.
  • Background Launch Restrictions (Android 11+): If tracking starts automatically, Android prevents background mic access. Grant the Display over other apps (Draw over other apps) permission so the app can initialize the microphone from the background.
Noise graph shows sound data, but no audio clips recorded

If the noise graph displays sound fluctuations or icons, but no audio clips were recorded or saved:

  • Volume Threshold Too High: The app only records audio when sound levels exceed your threshold. Go to Settings → Sleep noise analysis → Recording volume threshold and lower it (e.g., to 15% or 20%).
  • Storage Path Issue: The app could not write audio files to storage. Go to Settings → Sleep noise analysis → Storage path and tap Reset.
Too many short or constant recordings (e.g., fan or background noise)
  • Reason: The threshold is too low, or background noise (TV, music, fan) keeps triggering the recorder.
  • 👉 Fix: Increase the threshold to 25%-35% under Settings → Sleep noise analysis → Recording volume threshold.
A sound was tagged incorrectly (e.g., fan tagged as snore)
  • Sound classification is AI-assisted and continuously improving.
  • 👉 Fix: You can manually edit or remove tags in the player screen. When prompted, you can choose to share misclassified clips with the support team (support@urbandroid.org) to help improve future accuracy.
How do I record dream journals or morning thoughts?
  • Rather than relying on automatic noise triggers, use the Note Taking / Dictation feature on the active tracking screen:
    1. Pull up the tracking menu during or right after sleep tracking.
    2. Tap the Pencil Tags icon in the bottom left corner, then tap the mic Microphone icon.
    3. Dictate your dream summary, speech recognition will transcribe it directly into your sleep notes!
Weird chirping or sonar noise in recordings
  • If you use Sonar tracking, speaker-to-mic feedback or audio enhancement filters on your phone can create high-pitched artifacts.
  • 👉 Fixes:
    • Turn off all system-level audio enhancement features. Check both Sound and Accessibility in your phone settings to disable features like Adaptive Sound, Dolby, Equalizers, or custom Sound Profiles.
    • Set Input to UNPROCESSED in Settings → Sleep noise analysis → Input.
    • Position your phone so the bottom speaker/mic area extends slightly off the edge of your nightstand/table (not touching the surface)

Need further help? Contact us via Left ☰ Menu → Support → Report a bug.

Backward Sleep apnea Sleep score Forward