In a noisy restaurant bar or other places with a strong background sound, it is very, very difficult to have a casual conversation between two or more people. For such cases, scientists from the University of Washington created special headphones with built-in AI, which they called Sound bubble. The device is able to suppress any noise outside the 1-2 meter virtual bubble, providing conditions for quiet conversation inside.
Image source: Chen et al./Nature Electronics
In their current version, Sound bubble headphones are ordinary headphones with two speakers and six microphones on the arm. The headphones have a built-in AI processor trained to determine the distance to sound sources, suppress noise from distant sources, and amplify the sound inside the “bubble.” It all seems to be done by estimating the phase shift of sound waves at different frequencies. On average, noise is reduced by 49 dB, the researchers say.
Other people can enter the permitted zone and start a conversation. But all this will only work fully if everyone has the same Sound bubble headphones on their heads. Otherwise, only one person—the wearer of this device—will be able to hear and maintain a conversation normally. Luckily, developers are working to bring Sound bubble technology to in-ear headphones. Many people have these. And then you can retire for a conversation in any noise, without leaving your place.
«Our ability to focus on people nearby can be limited in places like noisy restaurants, so creating sound bubbles at an audible level has not been possible until now,” said Shyam Gollakota, lead author of the study. “Our AI system can actually detect the distance to every sound source in a room and process that in real time, within 8 milliseconds, on the hearing device itself.”