While the noise-cancelling technology for your earphones and headphones has probably been a God-sent for some, it also brings some sort of danger for those who are unaware of some situations that can harm them, since they’ve shut out the external sounds of the world. But it looks like Amazon may have found a solution for this as they have been granted a patent for a tech that can shut off the noise-cancelling in your headphones if they hear a certain sound or keyword.
The patent was actually granted last month and can pave the way for changes in how headphones with noise-cancelling technology will behave. For now, the only way you can turn it off is through a toggle in an app or if there’s a button in the headphones itself. But what if you’re jogging down a street and you couldn’t heart that a car was beeping at you? Or if you’re listening to your favorite Broadway cast recording and lip-synching (or even actually singing) away but then your boss was apparently calling you and you couldn’t hear it?
On paper, the tech should turn off if you will set certain keywords like your name or sounds like the horn of a car in order to save you from getting injured or ignoring people who have been calling you for some time now. But the details on how this can work is still unclear, as you probably cannot use just a car horn as a trigger or else you will probably be walking around the city without your noise cancelling tech at all. And what if your name was John?
Well it’s still too early to figure out details like that anyway, as they have just gotten the patent for it. It will be interesting to see how they will develop it and apply it to actual headphones or other audio accessories.
VIA: SlashGear
