Ecotones

What is Adaptive Sound?

Ecotones is the very first family of sound machines that can listen to a room and learn to determine what is normal sound for the environment, and what is not, by continuously scanning the room so it has a current image of the ambient sounds.

When Ecotones Duet detects an unusual or disruptive noise, its unique and patented software is then capable of adapting the SoundStory being played, adding sounds (increasing “richness” or “complexity”) in real-time from its expanded sound library and even automatically adjusting volume to neutralize the offensive noise.

When the sound intrusion abates, Ecotones Duet automatically returns to the original volume and richness settings for the selected SoundStory.

How does Ecotones Duet help with sleep?

Though there is no hard medical evidence proving that any brand of sound machine helps with sleep, anecdotal evidence of thousands of people, including well-known doctors and sleep specialists, suggest that music, meditation and “white noise” machines frequently help people to relax and fall asleep.

Ecotones Duet improves on widely available, conventional solutions that typically play low-quality music or repetitive, short sound clips like the sound of fans, chanting or falling water.

• ASTI’s patented Adaptive Mode is completely unique to Ecotones models.
• SoundStories are dynamically composed from hundreds of proprietary recordings. As a result, they do not become repetitious and monotonous after hours and hours of play. This minimizes the potential for the recording itself to become irritating.
• Each ASTI SoundStory is a blend of a foundational theme enhanced by a library of up to 50 additional natural sounds. For example, the Thunderstorm SoundStory is augmented by various thunderclaps, wind sounds and more. Ecotones Duet measures the ambient sound in a room using its built-in microphone to determine the appropriate mix of sounds to play. ASTI calls this real-time sound composition.
• The number and complexity of sounds added to each SoundStory can be managed by adjusting “richness.” A high richness level maximizes the number of sounds added to the base SoundStory to augment its complexity while a moderate richness level is less complex and potentially more useful for sleep and relaxation. Turning the richness settings off entirely relies on the base SoundStory with a very minimal amount of augmentation. The numerous settings and SoundStories allows you to choose just the right amount of sound for neutralizing daytime noise to minimize distraction, or to provide the most soothing backdrop for relaxation and sleep.
• ASTI understands that the acoustical and design quality of its machines is a vital factor in the listening experience of our customers. Case materials, speakers and fabrication are of the highest possible quality to deliver the best possible sound at an affordable price.

What is the difference between Ecotones and Ecotones Duet?

Ecotones is a larger unit, designed as a general-purpose sound machine, designed for sound masking at home or in offices or for relaxation and sleep. It’s larger case provides particularly robust acoustical properties, such as richer bass tones and a deeper, richer sound.

Ecotones Duet is designed especially for help sleeping. Sleep-enhancing features include tactile controls, a display button to deactivate the panel lights, and sound “richness” settings to adjust the SoundStory content and noise response to user-specified levels.

A summary of the two products is shown in the table below.

How are SoundStories recorded?

The short answer is that ASTI stories are recorded the hard way. Our sound engineering and design teams climb trees, sit up all night waiting for frogs to croak, and stand outside in thunder storms with high-quality sound equipment to capture the best quality sounds – the authentic sounds of nature. All of our SoundStories employ recorded natural sounds except for the Meditation theme.

Many other machines we’ve tested have recordings as short as just a few seconds. When a sound that brief repeats over and over again, it can actually become irritating -- keeping you awake rather than helping relaxation and sleep. Ecotones Duet recordings are longer than any competing sound machine and have 100s of enhancing sounds that are randomly mixed into the base sound story in real time. As a consequence, our recordings can seem to vary for hours and much more realistic and natural.

How well does Ecotones Duet mask sound?

The only way to truly and completely “mask” or “block” sound is to turn up the volume on any device to a point where the intrusive sound can’t be heard over the sound being generated by your sound machine. But that would act against the primary goal of relaxing or sleeping well without disturbing others.

Ecotones Duet’ Adaptive Mode offers more than volume as a tool for neutralizing disruptive noise, automatically enriching SoundStories with additional sound and automatically (and gradually) raising volume even while you are asleep to minimize the potential to be startled or awakened by an intrusive noise.

We simply think that works better than having to choose a static volume setting that strikes a balance between being soft enough to allow you to sleep, but loud enough to drown out the sound of the neighbor’s car alarm when they return home from the night shift.

Making those adjustments automatically allows you to continue sleeping through many of those disruptions.

It’s also important to note that certain SoundStories work better to block certain sounds:

How does Ecotones Duet know there is a disturbance in the room?

Ecotones units include a microphone that listens to the sound in the area where it’s installed. It detects noises by continuously scanning the room and calibrating the local audio reflections. Any sounds detected outside what Ecotones Duet is generating are determined to be external sources.

To what kinds of noises does Ecotones Duet respond?

Ecotones Duet responds to a wide variety of noises, responding best to loud, sudden changes in background noise that can be detected by the microphone and readily differentiated from the sound being played by the unit.

The louder the noise, the more readily Ecotones Duet responds. If the noise is too faint to be detected by the microphone, Ecotones Duet responsiveness if reduced, but the likelihood that any but the most acute listener will detect the noise is equally low.

Finally, certain SoundStories are more effective than others in neutralizing certain sounds because they’re in a similar frequency to the noise you want to neutralize. This following table suggests SoundStories you may find more effective in minimizing certain common sound intrusions.

Will Adaptive Mode interfere with my home's security system?

Ecotones Duet SoundStories will not mask security or fire alarms because of their high volume levels and unique frequency patterns. Also, the SoundStories will not interfere with security systems that listen for specific sounds, such as breaking glass.

Will Ecotones Duet cover up my partner's snoring?

A snoring partner right next to you is a rather unique and difficult circumstance. Ecotones Duet works as well as any other sound machine in this scenario, but may not be the miracle to blocking a particularly loud snorer just inches away.

Technical Questions

What does the “Richness” control do on the front panel?

Richness controls how much variation occurs in the playing SoundStory. For the most realistic sound environment, use full richness to complement the SoundStory with additional nature sounds. For situations where a more monotonous sound environment is desired, such as when trying to fall asleep, set the richness control to the lowest levels to minimize the complementary sounds.

There are 3 separate richness settings to determine how many enhancing sounds are added to the selected Sound Story in Adaptive Mode.

1) Low (all lights off): At the low Richness setting, there is a slower reaction time to disruptive sound. Volume is increased more gradually and fewer enriching sounds are more gradually.

2) Medium: (one light on): At the medium Richness setting, there is a moderate reaction time to disruptive sound. Volume and added sounds are increased at a moderate rate.

3) High: (2 lights on): At the high Richness setting, there is a nearly-immediate reaction time to disruptive sound, with volume increasing rapidly and more enriching sounds added more rapidly.

Does the Ecotones Duet turn off after a limited amount of time?

By default, the Ecotones Duet is designed to run continuously until you turn it off. The Duet does contain a Sleep Timer which allows you to turn off the unit after a specified amount of time, up to 120 minutes. If you do not use the Sleep Timer function, your Ecotones Duet will run continuously through the night.

Why do the lights keep going out on the front panel after 20 seconds?

Your unit is operating in nighttime display mode. In this mode, the display is temporarily lit to enable operating the controls in the dark. Press the “Display” button once to return to daylight display mode and leave all indicator lights on continuously.

Can I upgrade or add SoundStories on my Ecotones Duet?

No. Current Ecotones products do not support the ability to add new sounds. Please visit our suggestion box if this is a feature you would like to see in future products or if there is a particular SoundStory you would like to see us add.

My Ecotones Duet is not responding well to a particular noise. How can I improve the response?

There are several ways to improve the sensitivity of your Ecotones Duet unit:

• Ensure Ecotones Duet is operating in Adaptive Mode. The indicator light next to the “Adaptive” button should be lit. If not, press the “Adaptive” button once to activate it.
• Turn Ecotones Duet to face the source of the noise. The microphone will then be pointing directly at the noise which may improve its ability to detect and respond to the sound.
• Move Ecotones Duet closer to the noise source.
• Increase the volume.
• Change SoundStories. Certain SoundStories are more effective in making particular noises.
• What should I do if Adaptive Mode does not cover up a particular sound?

If Adaptive Mode does not respond well to a particular noise, you can still use the unit in Manual Mode and adjust the volume manually.

Does Adaptive Mode work with headphones?

Yes. Ecotones Duet senses when headphones are inserted and adjusts the output level for headphone use. The headphone port can also be used to drive an external stereo system to fill your room with adaptive high-quality sound.

Where can I get a copy of the Ecotones Duet User's Manual?

You can view the Ecotones Duet User's Manual online or download in PDF form here: Ecotones Duet User Manual