Seen At 11: New Technology May Help Reduce Snoring, Sleep Apnea

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- Snoring can be loud and disruptive, it can make your partner miserable and it can also be a sign of a serious breathing disorder. Sleep apnea can cause a person to temporarily stop breathing.

It affects millions but a new treatment may silence the snoring.

Ron Tucker told CBS 2's Kristine Johnson that his sleep apnea had caused such bad snoring that he had resorted to sleeping with a machine called a C Pap, so that he wouldn't disturb his wife's sleep.

But a new solution has emerged that may allow sleep apnea sufferers to ditch their C Paps.

Provent is now available for people who snore and suffer from sleep apnea. Medical experts explained that the Provent works like the C Pap but is smaller and much more convenient.

"The Provent is like a mini C Pap. You wear these strips over your nose," said Dr Josh Werber of EOS Sleep Lab.

The Provent works by using two valves, attached to a pair of small patches, that keep the users airways open.

"You breath in clearly, there's no resistance, but when you expire, there's resistance so some of the air is staying in your airway and keeping things open, stenting your airway like a C Pap does," explained Dr Werber.

The Provent has been FDA approved to treat sleep apnea and studies have shown that it can decrease snoring, but experts say that current Provent models only reduce apnea and snoring by 50 percent. The C Pap, by contrast, has been known to reduce apnea and snoring by almost  100 percent.

The Tuckers count themselves as a Provent success story.

"It has created such an easier lifestyle for me and my wife, it has been a new beginning for us," Ron Tucker said.

Medical experts say that there are other measures available for fighting sleep apnea.

"We use implants. We insert under the soft palate to stiffen the palate, and the indications for the pillar procedure are snoring to mild to moderate sleep apnea," Dr. Werber said.

Experts said to make sure that anybody suffering from sleep apnea should check with their doctor before switching from the C Pap to Provent.

 Have you ever tried the C Pap or Provent? Let us know in our comments section below...