When you need to have a serious conversation with someone or a small group, you probably need to find a place that has a private room or where there will only be a few people. But for times when you have no choice but to have it in a not so quiet place, then you probably wish you had a cone of silence so you can drown out other people’s voices while still being able to hear what your companions are saying.
Designers: Tuochao Chen, Malek Itani, Sefik Emre Eskimez
Well that might soon come true if this concept by the engineers at the University of Washington becomes a reality. The headphones is powered by AI and has the power to filter out the noise from as far as a few feet away so you’ll still be able to hear the conversation around you. It creates an imaginary “sound bubble” so you can focus on what you need to hear.
The noise-canceling headphones has six microphones on its headband, with a small onboard computer running a neural network. It will be able to analyze the distance from various sound sources around you. The ones that are farther away will be filtered out while the sounds closer to you will be amplified. If they come in within your imaginary bubble, you’ll be able to hear them clearly too.
It’s an interesting device to have especially if you have a lot of meetings or conversations outside. It would look strange though to have a group of people talking and all wearing headphones. They are working on smaller versions like earbuds or even hearing aids so that should work better.
