It’s currently Sleep Month here at T3, and after a few weeks filled with mattress reviews and advice on the best sleep gadgets, it’s now time to turn our attention to sleep hacks. One area I’ve been looking into recently is something most of us rely on every single day – our alarm sound.
Rather than talking about what time you should set your alarm or how long you should stay in bed after it goes off, I thought it’d be interesting to take a closer look at the actual alarm tones we wake up to. To help with that, the behavioural science experts at Startle analysed over 140 smartphone alarms, testing them to find out which ones are the best – and worst – for waking up your mind and body.
Below you’ll find the top picks for both iPhone and Samsung alarms, so if you’re still using one of the harsher default sounds, it might be time for a quick change.
According to the research, the ideal alarm sound should have a melody you can hum or sing along to, a dominant frequency of around 500 Hz (or the key of C5), and a tempo that’s not too fast or too slow – with 100–120 beats per minute.
If you’re one of the billions of people using an iPhone or Samsung phone, the findings are quite revealing. The study suggests that around 60% of the default iPhone alarms should actually be avoided, whilst 26% of Samsung’s built-in alarms may also not be ideal for waking up gently.
iPhone
After analysing the data, the experts found that Sencha came out as the best iPhone alarm sound. Its gentle melody, played in the key of C with a tempo of 110 BPM and a frequency close to 500 Hz, makes it far less likely to jolt you awake or leave you feeling groggy.
Other iPhone tones that scored well include By the Seaside, Steps and Uplift, all of which share similar melodic qualities that help the body wake up more gradually.
Samsung
For Samsung users, the top choices are Synth Bell and Roller Disco, both of which tick the boxes for the ideal wake-up sound and could help reduce the effects of sleep inertia – that groggy feeling you get straight after waking.
Dr Ritz Birah, psychologist and sleep expert at Panda London, explains why the alarm you choose can make such a difference to how you start the day:
“Abrupt, high-pitched or purely mechanical alarms are more likely to trigger the sympathetic nervous system, creating a startle response that wakes the body quickly but leaves the brain lagging behind. In contrast, alarms with melodic and rhythmic qualities engage wider areas of the brain involved in attention and auditory processing, allowing for a more gradual increase in alertness and better cognitive performance in the minutes after waking.”
So if you’ve been waking up feeling groggy lately, your alarm sound might actually be part of the problem. Switching to a more melodic tone could be a surprisingly simple way to start your mornings on a slightly better note.
