Noveto: Are beam-forming speakers about to make headphones obsolete?

[Results45]

In terms personal computing tech arriving in the near future there have many fascinating developments this year: satellite internet competitive with cable in both speed and latency, affordable VR headsets, 10,000PPI OLED displays, and holographic monitors among them.

 

Can 2020 get any more tantalizing? Well apparently a startup called Noveto aims to enable private and wireless audio listening without headphones:

 

 

 

Spoiler

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Quote

This product image released by Noveto Systems shows the SoundBeamer which beams music and sounds straight into your head, without the need for headphones.

 

The technology uses a 3-D sensing module and locates and tracks the ear position sending audio via ultrasonic waves to create sound pockets by the user’s ears. Sound can be heard in stereo or a spatial 3-D mode that creates 360 degree sound around the listener, the company said. (Noveto Systems via AP).

 

SOURCE

 

As far as I can tell the concept is similar to beam-forming on Wi-Fi 5 and Wi-Fi 6 routers ~ tracking the exact location (direction and distance) of your device and focusing or "beaming" the Wi-Fi signal to it. Except with Noveto's soundbar/speakers it is soundwaves that are being directly "streamed" to your ears.

 

This effectively allows the listener to experience the same audio fidelity and clarity no matter the listening angle and makes it virtually impossible for anyone to eavesdrop on the content being streamed to the listener's ears.

 

Will this make wired and wireless  headphones alike obsolete? No, especially not ones that offer active noise cancelling. Once the this tech starts appearing in phones, laptops, foldables, and VR/AR headsets I do see it erasing the need to buy open-back and low-end headphones for some people.

 

Curiosities like the range & accuracy, audio quality compared to high-end speakers & reference headphones, if it can beam sound to multiple people, and if one can link multiple Noveto soundbars together to create an "Hi-Fi Mesh" around the house remain, but I guess we'll see soon enough.

 

Thoughts?

Edited November 14, 2020 by Results45
Wi-Fi, Sci-Fi, Hi-Fi, Lo-Fi.

[leadeater]

Answer: No

 

[TetraSky]

Even if they beam it to you, the sound will still travel past you, hit a wall, bounce around, etc. They can't just make the sound wave hit your ears perfectly and not go anywhere from there.
I wouldn't trade my headphones, which offers me privacy by preventing others from ever possibly hearing anything that I'm listening to, for any kind of speakers, beam forming or otherwise.

[nox_]

[Sauron]

Sounds like bullshit. You can't make sound waves curve around your head. Plus a lot of people use headphones so other people can't hear what they're listening to - either to avoid bothering them or just for privacy - and I don't see how this could possibly do that. Also, how does it distinguish whose ears it should target? And most importantly, why would you want something this big to carry around with you if you could just have headphones?

[leadeater]

I'm waiting for the noise canceling version where you get total silence but everyone else in the room gets blasted with inverse noise lol

[Sauron]

3 minutes ago, leadeater said:

I'm waiting for the noise canceling version where you get total silence but everyone else in the room gets blasted with inverse noise lol

it's starting to... sound like a weapon now

[Results45]

6 minutes ago, Sauron said:

it's starting to... sound like a weapon now

.

[RejZoR]

To make it only be heard by you, no, not even possible. Making it adapt to sound better to person near, yeah, that is possible. If it does some sort of radar tracking and adapting how sound outputs depending on that, then yes, it's possible.

[WereCatf]

28 minutes ago, Results45 said:

Except with Noveto's soundbar/speakers it is soundwaves that are being directly "streamed" to your ears

It's impossible for the device to track your ears specifically, it can only get some general idea of where your body is.

29 minutes ago, Results45 said:

no matter the listening angle

Impossible. You still need to be more-or-less in front of the device.

 

30 minutes ago, Results45 said:

makes it virtually impossible for anyone to eavesdrop on the content being streamed to the listener's ears

Again, impossible. The sound will travel past you and will bounce from walls and other objects around you. You will be able to hear the sound better than anyone else nearby, but they can still also hear it.

 

Beamforming of sound is possible and is actually used in a lot of scenarions, including sonars. The claims here, though, are exaggerated marketing.

[RejZoR]

Basically Dolby Atmos is this kind of system, but for surround applications without physical speakers, not to miraculously "stream" audio waves directly into ears. That just can't be done because sound is not a linear static thing. It expands with range, the same way as light from a regular light bulb. It just goes in all directions and also reflects of surfaces.

[trag1c]

1 hour ago, TetraSky said:

Even if they beam it to you, the sound will still travel past you, hit a wall, bounce around, etc. They can't just make the sound wave hit your ears perfectly and not go anywhere from there.
I wouldn't trade my headphones, which offers me privacy by preventing others from ever possibly hearing anything that I'm listening to, for any kind of speakers, beam forming or otherwise.

You haven't lived until you cranked a set of open back cans to make sure you can't hear anybody else in the room but everyone in the room can hear it just as good as you can lol.

[Tristerin]

Let me guess, they just need me to donate startup money to get this idea going? lol

[TetraSky]

21 minutes ago, trag1c said:

You haven't lived until you cranked a set of open back cans to make sure you can't hear anybody else in the room but everyone in the room can hear it just as good as you can lol.

That, just makes you an ass, though...

[Murasaki]

Headphones are just fine, stop reinventing the wheel.

[Brooksie359]

The only benefit I see coming from this is reducing sound volume for the outside when watching TV which would be nice if you aren't trying to wake other people up in your house. If it can allow lower volume output sound louder to the person it is targeting then this could be pretty cool in those types of scenarios. Granted headphones could be used in that way but tbh I am not a huge fan of headphones when watching TV. 

[bit]

I've got an idea that needs funded based on this. We direct the sound but directly into the ears. Maybe have it close proximity as well so it can be discrete and so that no one can break the directed soundwaves by walking in front of the speakers. Please give me two billion dollars.

[Bombastinator]

This also sounds a bit like lrad stuff.  There was a video on that one I found interesting.  Where a dude created a home made lrad using car parts. The basics were sound weapons work, but the WAY they work is not having the truth told about it. 

[Guest]

14 hours ago, Sauron said:

it's starting to... sound like a weapon now

 

[CarlBar]

13 hours ago, BritTechTips said:

 

Cat.exe has crashed, would you like to restart.

[Kisai]

On 11/14/2020 at 4:07 AM, RejZoR said:

To make it only be heard by you, no, not even possible. Making it adapt to sound better to person near, yeah, that is possible. If it does some sort of radar tracking and adapting how sound outputs depending on that, then yes, it's possible.

Incorrect. It requires two. One in front and one behind. The one in front broadcasts the signal in-phase, and the one behind broadcasts it out-of-phase and cancels the audio that moves past your ears.

 

It doesn't seem practical and $9.99-$39.99 earbuds is more convenient than spending money on this. I can't even think of a practical use for this except for maybe a VR/AR application, and even then I don't see it solving anything.

 

I only see this being useful for a privacy solution like in a testing environment, and that still requires barricades and screen polarizers to prevent shoulder surfing.

[Mark Kaine]

Makes headphones obsolete. 

 

You just need a tracking device on each of your ears now... 

 

 

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