Ever get stuck next to someone at a gig who insist on chatting away throughout the entire thing as if you, and everybody else around, hasn’t just paid their hard-earned cash to watch some live music?
Generally, sticking in a pair of earplugs at a gig might cut out the inane chatter, but also muffle the band just as much and kill the atmosphere completely.
Now, instead of a couple of pieces of yellow foam poking out of your skull and making the band sound as if they’re playing underwater, there’s a much more high-tech solution that can preserve the sound and atmosphere of a live performance, while cutting out any unwelcome noise.
As FACT reports, Doppler Labs are the creators of a new gizmo known as Here One, which is a pair of earbuds basically verging on a cybernetic implant.
Building on the concept of ‘augmented reality’ (or AR) that is often thought of more as being visual overlays like Google Glass, these clever little devices allow you to tweak the soundscape to your liking – enhancing the sounds of a live band, for instance, or cutting out that drunken conversation about so-and-so’s annoying mate.
Paired wirelessly with your phone, the Here Ones use a dedicated app that basically allows you to be your own sound guy. If you love a bit more kick, just boost the bass frequency, or if you can’t quite make out the lyrics, you can play around with the levels until the vox are crystal clear.
Their use extends outside of a venue as well, such as allowing you to have a conversation in a noisy bar without having to shout into your friend’s ear.
The earbuds were originally the product of a successful Kickstarter campaign launched earlier in the year, and received good reviews from those backers who received a pair.
That first design was a bit limited, however, as it only allowed users to adjust what they were hearing naturally, and didn’t function as actual headphones.
The full retail version corrects this by allowing you to stream music from your phone, and even one-ups a standard pair of headphones by allowing you to balance your music with external sound – letting you carry on a conversation without the need to whip them out of your ears or hit pause.
You can grab a pair of these cutting-edge cans soon for a cool US$299, but we can definitely see these things becoming more and more common as the technology keeps getting smaller and cheaper.
