New Device Puts the Music in You
Sound beaming is a new futuristic audio technology likened to being in your own personal sound bubble as headphones are not required at the same time the sound does not disturb those around you.
The technology allows you to; listen to your favorite tunes, play loud computer games, watch a movie or even get navigation directions in your car.
The developers, Israeli company Noveto Systems launched their product on Friday November 13, after Associated Press got an exclusive demo of how the model works.
Their verdict; the listening sensation is straight out of a sci-fi movie. The 3-D sound is so close it feels like its inside your ears while it echoes from the front, behind and above you.
The lack of headphones means it is possible to hear other sounds in the room clearly at the same time.
How it Works
The technology uses a 3-D sensing module, locates, and tracks the ear position sending audio via ultrasonic waves to create sound pockets by the user’s ears. Sound comes in stereo or a spatial 3-D mode that creates 360-degree sound around the listener, the company said.
The demo included nature video clips of swans on a lake, bees buzzing and a babbling brook, where the listener feels completely transported into the scene.
Even CEO Christophe Ramstein finds it hard to put the concept into words. “The brain doesn’t understand what it doesn’t know,” he said.
In a Noveto demonstration conducted via Zoom from Tel Aviv, Sound Beamer Product Manager Ayana Wallwater was unable to hear the sound of gunshots on a gaming demo.
That is the point; she said she does get to enjoy the reactions of people trying the software for the first time.
“You don’t believe it because it sounds like a speaker, but no one else can hear it…it’s supporting you and you’re in the middle of everything. It’s happening around you.”
By changing a setting, the sound can follow a listener around when they move their head. It is also possible to move out of the beam’s path and hear nothing at all, which creates a surreal experience.
“You don’t need to tell the device where you are. It’s not streaming to one exact place,” Wallwater said.
“It follows you wherever you go. So it’s personally for you — follows you, plays what you want inside your head.”
“This is what we dream of,” she adds. “A world where we get the sound you want. You do not need to disturb others and others do not get disturbed by your sound. But you can still interact with them.”
While the concept of sound beaming is not new, Noveto was the first to launch the technology and their Sound Beamer 1.0 desktop device will be the first branded consumer product.
Ramstein said a “smaller, sexier” version of the prototype would be ready for consumer release in time for Christmas 2021.
