I’ve long maintained that audio is an underappreciated and underutilized medium. One with unlimited potential since we were barely just scratching the surface of what it could be used for.
Apparently, the secret is now out. For we now have:
- Podcasting
- Universal translators
- Audio tweets
- Audible/Books on tape
- Smart speakers
- Interacting with Siri, Alexa, and other voice controlled assistants to control Internet of Things connected devices
- Iceland’s Scream Therapy
- Healing through sound with the Solfeggio Frequencies
- Podcast alarm clock
- Sportscenter for Podcasts – catch all the highlights from the best pods
- Foreign language speaking holograms
- Clubhouse – chat based social app
- Facebook Audio Live
- Project VoCo – Photoshop for audio; create audio based deep fakes
- Acoustik Attak – guitar pick that creates enhanced sound waves
- Speechify – text to speech converter
- Cappuccino – personalized podcasts
- Hearhere – tourism companion app
- Quantum Radio – get a cell phone signal anywhere; even on the subway
- Vagus nerve stimulator – placed inside ear to enhance learning ability
- High inducing headphones
- Spalk – sports broadcasting
- Hearables – wearable hearing devices that let you enhance/edit/augment sounds
- Noise Radar
- Noise cancelling windows
And now we can add one more to that ever growing list: Smart Audio from Facebook.
Gizmodo explains:
“It’s no secret that Facebook has an interest in virtual and augmented reality, but today, the company published a deep dive into the audio component of this emerging tech. Put simply, Facebook’s trying real hard to make ‘smart audio’ a thing.
At the heart of Facebook’s research is a concept called ‘social presence.’ The problem with VR and AR right now is even if you slap on a headset and are visually transported to a different surrounding, if the sounds you hear don’t match up, it can take you out of the experience. A division of the company, Facebook Reality Labs Research, has purportedly been working on figuring out a way to create virtual sounds that are “indistinguishable from reality” and, perhaps somewhat ominously, “redefine human hearing.” The former is relatively self-explanatory, but FRL Research defines the latter as the ability to amplify specific sounds while dampening irrelevant ambient noise. It’s sort of akin to how superheroes and spies in movies can zero in on a conversation despite being in a noisy setting.
So how does that relate to smart glasses? The FRL Research blog goes super in-depth into the audio science behind it, but the gist is that AR glasses could pick up audio via microphones and then, by analyzing your head and eye movements, identify what you’re most interested in hearing. At that point, the glasses could enhance certain sounds while dampening others. So if you’re in a loud bar and you look at a TV, maybe the sounds on that TV become a bit clearer while the drunkard blathering in the corner gets a little quieter. This could also be used in conjunction with Facebook’s other AR-based tech, like LiveMaps, a ‘virtual map with shared and private components.’ The example Facebook gives in this instance is if a person walks into a loud restaurant, the glasses could identify different noises—the air conditioner, clanking silverware, conversations—and then, using AI, remove distracting sounds.
Another application might be if you’re on a call, the glasses (or maybe a VR headset) could project audio to specific parts of the room. So, if you’re on a virtual conference call and your boss is ‘sitting’ in the virtual chair to your left, it could adjust the audio so it really sounds like your boss is right next to you in the same room.”
This technology reminds of me the Here One smart earbuds that could edit sounds in your vicinity, such as turning up the bass at a concert or drowning out a crying baby on a plane while still letting you hear announcements from the pilot. Such technology truly would be game-changing whether it comes to us in the form of an enhanced hearing aid or as a capability within a VR or AR based system produced by Facebook.
All in all, it’s abundantly clear that audio is a field that is buzzing with activity. Which begs the question: what other acoustic treats are we in for?!
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