Exciting world of “Audio” Wearables — Headsets & Earbuds
Headphones/Earphones/Earbuds once thought to be a music lovers companion, has gained significant attention from a wider range of audience including office environments, work from home scenarios etc.,. The intent of this writeup is to summarize some of the advancements in this field including the influence of Artificial Intelligence on the same.
Personalized EQ / Hearing
In addition to default equalizers provided in headphones, the end user is given the flexibility to tune the audio played back based on their listening ability and sensitivity to hearing different frequencies. This is generally facilitated via an application. An audio test / personalized hearing test to measure the users listening response at different frequencies is performed by playing tones / series of sounds. The audio settings are them calibrated to match the specific frequencies that the user is most sensitive to.
Hybrid ANC — Active Noise Cancellation
Noise Cancellation in headsets has been in existence for more than 2 decades now, helping in smoother airplane rides etc.,. Development of “hybrid” active noise cancellation (ANC) headphones, by placing microphones on both the interior and exterior of the ear cup is gaining momentum. Hybrid ANC can suppress noise over a wider frequency range, adapt to and correct errors and is less sensitive to sound angle and user wear. Hybrid ANC supports multiple modes and interestingly, “Ambient Noise / Transparency Mode” allows ambient external noise to pass through while you’re listening to the headphones. This can be very useful in an environment where the end user has to remain aware of the surroundings like walking in a road, bus or train ride etc.,
Sense of Hearing / Smart Sound / Acoustics scene detection
The ability of hearable devices to recognize sounds that cannot be heard by the users wearing it, as well as adapting to the acoustic environment to enhance the audio experience with no compromise to battery life defines the sense of hearing. The consumers can use the wearables without worrying or losing touch with the world around them, be it, traffic, train station or an airplane.
For example, user wearing over the ear headphone at home can be alerted of any safety alarms like smoke alarm, glass shattering, etc., Indeed during voice calls baby crying, dog bark etc., can be detected and handled. This is also called as acoustics scene detection.
The feature does not require any additional hardware as today most of the headphones, earphones and earbuds are already equipped with an external facing microphones for ANC which can be used for smart sound recognition.
Bone Conduction Headphones
Bone conduction headphones are gaining popularity especially with runners, people with hearing disabilities and has its roots in hearing aid technology and also been used in military applications. In such devices there are no earbuds at all, instead the audio is sent directly to the cochlea, completely bypassing the eardrums.
References
- AI on Wearables https://www.epdtonthenet.net/article/169424/Headphones-gain-AI-powered--sense-of-hearing--via-new-Audio-Analytic-patent.aspx
- Future of headphone — https://mixdownmag.com.au/news/product/is-this-the-future-of-headphone-technology/
- Audio Technology Enhancement — Headphones 4 Exciting Advances in Audio Headphone and Listening Technology (cadence.com)