Nidra wins IDEA Impact Award
Noctrix Nidra Wearable Design Wins IDEA Impact Award
level is honored to receive the IDEA Impact Award from the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) for our work with Noctrix Health, Inc. on Nidra, the first and only drug-free therapy clinically proven to reduce symptoms of Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS).
The recognition celebrates more than an award-winning product. It reflects the role that thoughtful Industrial Design can play in MedTech: translating an innovative therapy into a wearable experience that is comfortable, intuitive, discreet, and designed around the realities of patients’ everyday lives.
Designing a wearable therapy for Restless Legs Syndrome
Noctrix partnered with level to help bring its novel neurostimulation therapy to life as a patient-centered wearable MedTech device.
Nidra is designed to deliver targeted neurostimulation that helps alleviate symptoms of RLS. Because the therapy is used at home and integrated into a patient’s nightly routine, the product needed to address challenges beyond its core clinical function.
The wearable needed to fit comfortably against the body, remain secure during use, make the therapy straightforward to administer, and feel natural in the context of preparing for sleep. It also needed to translate sophisticated medical technology into an approachable product that patients could confidently use night after night.
level worked closely with Noctrix to develop a soft, form-fitting band that delivers therapy discreetly and comfortably. The resulting design demonstrates how Industrial Design for MedTech can connect engineering, usability, and patient experience in a single wearable product.
From medical technology to an everyday experience
Wearable medical devices occupy a unique space. Unlike equipment used primarily by clinicians, a wearable often becomes part of a patient’s daily life. Its success depends not only on whether the underlying technology works, but also on whether people can comfortably and consistently incorporate it into their routines.
That consideration was especially important for Nidra. Restless Legs Syndrome can interfere significantly with sleep, so the experience surrounding the therapy needed to minimize additional friction at bedtime.
The design of Nidra prioritizes comfort and discretion while creating a clear, approachable interaction with the technology. Its soft construction and body-conforming form help the device integrate naturally into the nightly routines of patients receiving therapy.
Creating measurable patient impact
This patient-centered approach is central to level’s Industrial Design process for wearable MedTech. By considering the physical, functional, and emotional experience of using a medical device, design can help turn complex clinical innovation into a product people can realistically live with.
We’re especially proud that the impact of Nidra extends well beyond the product itself.
To date:
More than 1.5 million nights of Nidra therapy have been delivered
More than 5,000 patients have been treated
Nidra was included in Clinical Practice Guidelines from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine in 2025
Nidra was included in guidance from the RLS Foundation in 2026
These milestones demonstrate what can happen when clinical innovation, engineering, and design are developed together around the needs of patients.
For level, the IDEA Impact Award represents exactly that kind of outcome: an innovative technology successfully translated into a wearable medical product that works not only in principle, but in people’s everyday lives.
Recognized with the IDEA Impact Award
We’re grateful to the team at Noctrix Health, Inc. for trusting level as a design partner and proud of the impact we have created together.
Congratulations to everyone who helped bring Nidra to life, and thank you to the Industrial Designers Society of America (IDSA) for recognizing the project with the IDEA Impact Award.
For us, this recognition reinforces a principle at the heart of our work: the most meaningful MedTech Industrial Design connects innovation with human needs. When technology, design, and close collaboration come together, the result can be more than a successful product, it can help improve how people experience treatment and, ultimately, their quality of life.
Learn more about level’s work with Noctrix and the design of Nidra:
https://lnkd.in/gkCTWm2Q
See the full list of IDEA winners:
https://lnkd.in/dkKFd9M7
