We see a world in which headsets are increasingly an indispensable part of how millions of people work and live
However we are poorly served by existing headset technology. Our soldiers and workers need headsets that will protect their hearing without affecting their ability to perform their jobs. These same headsets need to provide crystal clear two-way communication as radios are used more broadly in the military and industry. The convergence of music, internet, video, and telephony on portable media devices is happening, and it is exploding. The more people use portable devices for multi-media and communication, the more they need headsets that will continuously optimize their listening and communication experience as their acoustic environment changes.
Our vision is to use our expertise in control algorithms, signal processing, and acoustics to develop adaptive, multi-functional headsets that meet the needs of 21st century users
When you can’t predict when your acoustic environment will change, our headsets will move seamlessly between hearing protection mode and hearing mode so you don’t have to make the choice between hearing and hearing protection. Like a shade that can go from being opaque to translucent, we will give people the power to completely shut-out the world, have super-hearing, or have any level of acoustic transparency in between. We can turn up the volume on your audio stream when the outside world is loud, and we can turn it down when it is quiet so that you’re always hearing audio at the optimal level. We can measure your noise exposure so that you know when you are endangering your hearing and can respond accordingly. If you’re monitoring an area from five hundred yards away, we will help you hear as if you were ten yards away. If you are in a dispersed group communicating by radio, we will help you hear each person as if their voice was coming from their actual location. If you hear a gun shot, we will pinpoint its location.
With digital technology, the possibilities are endless
As chips become more powerful and more power efficient and as battery technologies improve, we will be able to put more and more powerful functionality into the incredibly small and light packages that headsets demand. We are just at the beginning of what is possible.