soon selective noise canceling headphones

The next generation of headsets will only allow certain noises to pass through, such as sirens or babies crying.

The technology developed by researchers at the University of Washington in the United States could prevent a lot of accidents. Because until now, with noise-cancelling headphones, we were completely cut off from the world. So in the street, you could hardly hear a car coming a little fast or someone shouting at you: “Attention !”. All sounds were muffled.

The worst is in transport. I happened to miss my train because I had not heard the platform change announcement. On the next generation of headsets, you will be able to choose in an application the sounds you want to block and those you want to let through, such as, for example, the baby’s cries, the doorbell ringing, alarms or announcements in a train station or airport. Not only will we be safer. But we will no longer have to take off our headphones at the slightest suspicious noise.

Distinguishing one sound from another in real time, a technological feat

What exists today are headphones that cut off the music as soon as there is a noise a little louder than average. The problem is that in the city, there is such a noise that the music or the radio ends up stopping all the time. In fact, it is very difficult to differentiate between one sound and another. And above all, to do it in real time. This is precisely what makes the technique developed by the researchers novel. Technique which will now be offered to headset and earphone manufacturers so that they can integrate it into their devices. Around twenty everyday sounds can be filtered.

For the moment, we will not yet be able to choose to let only certain voices through. A few weeks ago, I told you about a hearing aid capable of blocking certain voices and not others. There, it will be all voices without distinction or none. But it shows the extent of the progress made in sound processing. Initially, headphones were mainly used to isolate yourself from listening to music. From now on, they also make it possible to act and control noise pollution. It should come as no surprise to see more and more people with headphones permanently screwed into their ears.