Wearable hearing technology start-up Doppler Labs has developed a system called Here Active Listening, which comprises a set of wireless and earbuds and an app designed to customise the sounds around you. The smartphone app talks to the earbuds via Bluetooth, and the user is able to tailor the sound of the world around them as it enters their ears.
Here Active Listening system isn’t designed for listening to music as a hearing aid nor a Bluetooth headset. The primary goal of the system is to be worn in scenarios such as on a plane to minimise the sound of a crying baby or to boost the bass at a live show.
The size and slick design of the Here earbuds mask the complexity of their components: a microphone and speaker, a lithium-ion battery, which lasts around 4-6 hours, and a Bluetooth radio.
All the sound processing happens in the earbud itself: Here buds capture the incoming sound waves and a digital signal processor tells the microphone and speaker how to behave depending on what settings the user has selected in the smartphone app. Here Active Listening then processes the audio in real-time (in less than 30 microseconds) and plays it back without any perceivable delay.
Noah Kraft and investor Fritz Lanman founded Doppler Labs in 2013 with the promise to change the way we hear the world. Their first product, the Dubs, was launched in September of 2014 and was intended for use in clubs or at concerts to take down the decibel level without sacrificing audio quality. Doppler Labs’ initial Kickstarter campaign for Here reached its funding target of $250,000 this week and in total to date they’ve raised $17 million.
