In our fast-paced, always-on world, we depend on our earphones more than ever for a break. Be it on our daily jog or during a tense moment in the office, good music can act as an instant tranquilizer. However, have you noticed when jogging or after a strenuous activity, you often hear your heartbeat in your earphones? A newly released patent, US11763792B2, developed by the audio technology company Cirrus Logic, is aimed at addressing this very issue.
Listening to one's own heartbeat while wearing earphones can distract from the music or podcast being played. This problem becomes even more apparent when the ear canal is occluded by the headphones, causing what scientists term the "occlusion effect". Essentially, this causes low frequency sounds, like our heartbeat, to be amplified, creating an internal drumming effect that can spoil our listening experience.
This is where the new patent steps in. The technology it proposes cancils out the noise of your heartbeat, offering a more immersive and undisturbed audio experience. Using its smart codec design, Cirrus Logic's headphones will analyze your heartbeat, create a noise-cancelling sound, and feed it back into the headphones. The result? All you hear is the music or podcast you love, not your accelerated heart thumps after a workout.
Imagine a future where your headphones are intelligent enough to nullify inner body sounds. You're running in the park, sweat dripping down your forehead, heart pounding - but in your ears, it's only your favorite rock band playing. Or picture an intense gaming session where only the adrenaline-pumping game music comes through, not the physical throbbing of your excitement. This transformative approach to sound could elevate our audio experience to another level.
However, it's important to remember that a patent is only a promise of a potential product. While the ideas it holds are both compelling and feasible, the journey from a patent to a consumer-ready product may be long and challenging. There's no guarantee this smart headphone will land in your nearest electronics store any time soon. But if it does, it could be music to your ears, literally and metaphorically.
P.S. The figures provided with the patent offer additional technical details about this ground-breaking technology. They include diagrams of the headphone design, the details of its smart processor, filter modules and more. Yet it's important to note that while these diagrams signify a potential pathway to development, they do not guarantee the actualization of this technology in real-world products.