Sony teases “N,” an audio-focused wearable that doesn’t go in your ears

[Guest Kloaked]

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

 

 

 

WTF?

 

Sony announced a new research and development group called the Future Lab Program on Thursday, and a curious video gives us a glimpse of the initiative's first project. Referred to as "N," the prototype is a hands-free wearable that provides "a new way of experiencing audio such as music and sound, allowing the user to receive audio information without having to insert any object into his or her ear."

 

Okay so this woman is wearing a device around her neck that looks like one of those Bluetooth things that people are wearing nowadays.

 

If you look closely, you can you see that the woman is wearing a Sony-branded device around her neck. It's a shiny white gadget that curves over her shoulders, but there's not much else we can deduce about it from this video. N is apparently a product that untethers you from the wired hassle of traditional earbuds. It doesn't fit into your ears either, instead transmitting audio for you to hear. The woman in the video seems to respond to the voice, saying "ready," so it's possible that N has some voice recognition features as well.

 

Thanks, Ars. Never would have caught that.

 

 

Anyways, any speculations on what this is exactly? It doesn't look like anything special to me. The woman isn't wearing anything in her ears, but the video is depicting her hearing something. So I'm wondering if they're just speakers in the neck band thing.

[Aytex]

3 minutes ago, Kloaked said:

Anyways, any speculations on what this is exactly? It doesn't look like anything special to me. The woman isn't wearing anything in her ears, but the video is depicting her hearing something. So I'm wondering if they're just speakers in the neck band thing.

implement permanent speakers into your ears to  adjust ambient hearing higher lower and listen to music, hearing aids except with Bluetooth capabilities lol

[ivan134]

Lol @ speakers in the neck band. A more portable this:

 

[Guest Kloaked]

Just now, ivan134 said:

Lol @ speakers in the neck band. A more portable this

 

And probably 10 times more annoying since people will likely have these while shopping, or at school..

 

oh god.

[ivan134]

Just now, Kloaked said:

And probably 10 times more annoying since people will likely have these while shopping, or at school..

 

oh god.

Yea, which is why I highly doubt it's speakers in the neck band. I don't think any company is stupid enough to make something like that.

[Guest Kloaked]

3 minutes ago, ivan134 said:

Yea, which is why I highly doubt it's speakers in the neck band. I don't think any company is stupid enough to make something like that.

It's Sony.

 

 

Unless they have some kind of bone conduction magic going on where it's personal audio, but I don't see how that would work.

[Nacho Marco Segui]

Buttphones

[ivan134]

1 minute ago, Kloaked said:

It's Sony.

 

 

Unless they have some kind of bone conduction magic going on where it's personal audio, but I don't see how that would work.

Yea, this is a very effective tease. I can't wait to see what the actual product is.

[JcGross]

Unless there's a spinal implant or something that transmits signals to your brains that this slave collar connects to I don't see how it could work. Otherwise everyone else will have to listen to Ice Cream Social on the bus when I'm traveling. It might mess up my obelisk.

[Sors]

Bone conducting must be the technology behind this, I guess the transducer  doesn't have to be in contact with the skull to work?

[Beskamir]

Maybe it's an AC unit? I mean it's Sony after all so it's probably something nobody asked for. 

[Spongy141]

If it is just speakers you can where on your neck I am leaving this planet.

[WoodcockJohnson]

I'm really at a loss if this is resonating something in the head to produce sound in the ear canal since those types of units typically sit ON the skull directly behind the ear so that the vibrations don't need to be huge and can go right into the ear drum accurately. There's a lot of wet, meaty tissue between the base of the neck and the eardrum so I don't think it will be this, although I could be wrong.

 

They also emphasized the fact that she can hear the surroundings while also hearing what shes listening to. And they amped up the surroundings to make it seem like both were crystal clear. So yeah I'm really at a loss but super intrigued!

[Prysin]

so first choker necklaces are apparently coming back,

then this...

whats the next thing?

shock collars?

 

@LinusTech, @Slick

Quickly, put the collars back on before they're cool.

[raphidy]

If they are speakers, I'll skip the subway unless I have headphones on me. Some people will annoy other with it. I hope it will connect with my Iphone 7 because wireless is 2016 theme.