Find out how a new line of AI-powered headphones from the University of Washington creates a customizable ‘sound bubble,’ allowing you to zero in on the conversations you want to be listening to while minimizing all that distracting background noise from afar.
Researchers at the University of Washington have invented a new prototype: AI-powered headphones that can generate a custom “sound bubble.” The innovation of the cutting-edge kind will let a user hear conversations in a programmable radius of 3 to 6 feet and cut down background noise coming from farther away. The system functions on artificial intelligence algorithms, combined with a headset carrying six very small microphones to monitor the sound timing reaching every microphone. It eliminates noises coming from outside the desired “bubble” while processing the inputs. Thus, noise becomes an issue of the past, and people can freely communicate in such noisy spots as bustling offices or crowded restaurants. The code for this proof-of-concept device was published open source and will shortly be joined by a startup to commercialise the technology developed by the research team.
