Most of us are glued to video calling software for the most part of the day. This means half of that time (considering you work in some privacy) you have your headphones or earbuds hurting the ears. Now with the introduction of N1 soundbar-esque invisible headphones, a company called Noveto is vouching to help change that for you and many other folks working from home on video calls or immersed in music.
Revealed at CES 2022, this new “magical sound experience” is directed at comfort in private conversations with “no device on the body.” This is possible with Noveto N1 sitting at a distance from you – on your work desk – and providing you sound close to your ears so others in the room are not disturbed and you can carry on with your work (or even watching a soccer game when your wife’s sleeping).
The functioning
Arriving with Alexa integration, facial recognition, and Noveto’s audio beaming tech, the N1 is designed to let users hear stereo sound without the use of headphones. The N1, the company says, transmits ultrasound quietly in the air, which then converges into audible sound pockets outside the user’s ear to create a sort of headphone-like listening experience without any wearable hardware.
According to the company, only the listener is able to hear in full 3D spatial audio while others in the room only hear a slight whisper. Considering that the user will move the head around, a camera mounted in between the speaker grills on the N1 tracks movement and automatically adjusts the ultrasound beams to provide an uninterrupted private listening experience.
Possibilities
If Noveto can actually pull off what it claims with the N1, we are talking about a possibility where the user and the speaker can interact privately, during video calls, listening to music or any other given condition, without disturbing others in the same room. All this without the need of cocooning the ears in some wearable.
Coming to usage, the N1 connects over Bluetooth, USB-C, Wi-Fi, and also comes with 3.5mm jack. The Noveto N1 is currently on show at CES in Las Vegas and is expected to hit markets for $800 in March this year.