The Not So Silent Epidemic / Nerve Surgery Is the Latest Aid for Serious
  Snoring
From: Scientific American - 05/19/2015
By: David Noonan

Snoring can signal life-threatening apnea. New remedies such as a jolt to a
nerve may help.

Upper-airway electronic stimulation, approved by the US Food and Drug
Administration last summer, offers much more than relief from loud snoring.
It addresses the most obvious symptom of obstructive sleep apnea, a
drastically underdiagnosed disorder shared by an estimated 25 million
Americans.

However implanting the stimulation device involves an invasive two hour
surgical procedure. A head and neck surgeon, working through an incision in
the side of the neck, under the patient's jaw, places an electrode on the
hypoglossal nerve, which controls the muscles of the tongue. The surgeon also
puts a battery pack and a sensor in the chest and connects them to the
electrode with a wire lead. The patient usually can go home a day later; the
device is turned on and adjusted after a month.

Read the entire article at:
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/nerve-surgery-is-the-latest-aid-for-serious-snoring/