Adaptive Sound Technologies, Inc. (ASTI) was founded by Sam Nicolino in 2008. A long-time resident of a peaceful neighborhood with tree-studded environs that belied its proximity to bustling Silicon Valley, the construction of a new freeway threatened the quietude of his home.

He set to work studying the changes in the noise levels and patterns introduced by now annoyingly close freeway traffic, nearly being run over on a few occasions as he and his recording equipment got just a bit too close to speeding cars. He experimented with columns of speakers and amplifiers both inside and out, and with dozens of recordings of natural sounds, music, and synthesized sounds in his determination to create an audio environment to block and replace the honking horns, screeching breaks and continuous road noise.

While Sam had successfully engineered a solution for himself, he could only imagine the pervasiveness of the problem as noise pollution increases in urban areas around the world. He reasoned that it was only a matter of time before the forces of Moore’s Law acted on audio, raising the power and lowering the cost of the technologies required to deliver a high-quality but cost-effective solution. Today, ASTI employs a team of seasoned software and hardware engineers, sound engineers and product designers whose centuries of combined experience are employed in crafting the Ecotones family of easy-to-use and affordable sound machines that enable anyone to use Adaptive Sound to relax, tune out disruptive noises or to sleep more peacefully.