As most of you Braniacs already know, noise-canceling
headphones work by "listening" to ambient noise and
generating waveforms that inversely match the noise.
Flash forward to the present. (Okay, this has nothing to do
with time travel; I've just always wanted to write "Flash
forward to the
present" here.) Many people with incurably
snoring partners avoid earplugs because they worry they
won't hear important noises—smoke alarms, kids calling,
burglars breaking in, emergency phonecalls, ETs landing in
the backyard, etc.
Snore-Canceling Earplugs are miniaturized noise-canceling
devices optimized to cancel the types of sound patterns
produced by undirected vibrating human respiratory
structures. These patterns have specific, identifiable
characteristics (because, prior to developing the actual
algorithms, I'm saying they do).
For maximum comfort whilst sleeping, SCEs are custom-
molded to each user's ear canals, like the custom protective
earplugs worn by performing artists who can't use visible
sound-blocking devices.
Now watch someone patent, manufacture and sell this and
make a zillion bucks. Don't you hate it when that happens?