Personalised bedtime stories · Lullabies · Sleep sounds
Record your voice once, and NubiNook reads every bedtime story in it, starring your child, their favourite pet and the adventure they pick tonight. Stories, lullabies and sleep sounds are made to calm, so bedtime can end with your child drifting off on their own.
Built on published research in child development and sleep science.
97%
of children recognised their mother's voice from a clip under one second long.1
80%
of newborns fell asleep within 5 minutes to gentle white noise, vs 25% without it.2
10,085
children studied worldwide: every extra night of bedtime routine meant better sleep.3
1.4M
more words heard by age 5 by children who are read to every day.4
How it works
Read a short script aloud once. Mum, Dad, Grandma and Grandad can each add their own voice.
Add your child's name, their favourite pet or toy, and pick tonight's theme.
The story plays in your voice and flows into a lullaby or soft sleep sounds, on repeat for as long as needed.
Leave the phone playing across the room. Your child drifts off to your voice, on their own.
Our signature feature
Other apps read stories in a stranger's voice. NubiNook reads them in yours. Every story is shaped around your child, so each night feels like it was written just for them.
Tonight's story, read by Dad
"Once upon a time, when the stars were just waking up, Mia and her puppy Biscuit tiptoed down to the quiet silver ocean. The waves were humming a lullaby only they could hear…"
Why it works
We built NubiNook around what scientists have found about how children feel safe, settle and fall asleep.
< 3 days old
Newborns just days old prefer their mother's voice to a stranger's. Even before birth, a baby's heart rate responds to its mother's voice differently from a stranger's.
DeCasper & Fifer, Science, 19805 · Kisilevsky et al., Psychological Science, 20036
< 1 second
Children picked out their mother's voice in under a second. In brain scans, her voice activated far more of the brain than unfamiliar voices did, including areas for emotion, reward and social connection.
Abrams et al., Stanford University, PNAS, 20161
Voice = a hug
After a stressful task, children who only heard their mother's voice by phone had lower stress hormone (cortisol) and higher bonding hormone (oxytocin), matching children who got an in-person hug.
Seltzer, Ziegler & Pollak, Proc. Royal Society B, 20107
−88%
One hour of bright light before bed cut melatonin (the sleep hormone) by about 88% in 3–5-year-olds. Children using devices at bedtime are about twice as likely to sleep too little. NubiNook is made for listening, not watching.
Akacem et al., Physiological Reports, 20188 · Carter et al., JAMA Pediatrics, 20169
Heart rate ↓
Infants' heart rate dropped and their pupils narrowed (both signs of relaxing) more during lullabies than other songs, even lullabies they had never heard. Familiar songs calmed upset babies better than talking.
Bainbridge et al., Harvard, Nature Human Behaviour, 202110 · Cirelli & Trehub, 202011
1.4M words
Children read five books a day hear about 1.4 million more words by age 5 than children who aren't read to. Even one story a day adds around 290,000.
Logan et al., J. Developmental & Behavioral Pediatrics, 20194
Loop & leave
Set the story or lullaby to loop, say goodnight and leave the room. Children who fall asleep without a parent beside them tend to wake up less often during the night.
Sadeh, Mindell et al., Journal of Sleep Research, 200912
3 weeks
In a study of 405 families, three weeks of a consistent bedtime routine meant children fell asleep faster and woke less, and mothers' mood and sleep improved too.
Mindell et al., Sleep, 200913
Every night
Each extra night a week with a bedtime routine was linked to earlier bedtimes, faster sleep and longer nights. With your voice recorded, the routine stays the same even when you can't be there.
Mindell et al., Sleep, 2015, 10,085 children3
Composed to calm
Every lullaby, sleep song and soundscape in NubiNook is composed around soft, low frequencies and slow, steady rhythms. These are the same qualities researchers find in lullabies all over the world. Stories are layered over the same gentle sound beds, so the whole experience winds down together.
80% vs 25%
Newborns who fell asleep within five minutes with gentle white noise, compared with those without.2
144 babies
relaxed measurably to lullabies from cultures they'd never heard, suggesting lullabies speak a language babies already understand.10
Safe listening tip
Keep the volume low and the phone about 2 metres from the cot. Paediatric researchers recommend this for all sleep sounds.14
The NubiNook library
Gentle, slow-paced tales that wind down instead of winding up. Every one can be personalised and read in your voice.
Coming soon Calm, bedtime-friendly games for winding down.
Privacy & safety
A voice is personal. We protect it that way.
FAQ
Just a few minutes reading a short script aloud. After that, NubiNook can read the stories in your voice.
Yes. Anyone special to your child can add their voice, and you choose who reads each night.
Yes, that's what it's designed for. Set the story, lullaby or sleep sound to loop, put the phone across the room with the screen off, and say goodnight.
Babies, toddlers and young children, roughly 0–8 years old.
No. NubiNook is made for listening. Start the story, dim the lights and put the phone down.
No. NubiNook is a bedtime companion built on research into family voices, routines and calming sound. If you're worried about your child's sleep, speak to your paediatrician or health visitor.
Meet Nubi, your child's sleepy little friend
NubiNook is coming soon to iPhone and Android.
