Audeara – headphones with built-in hearing test
Audeara is the world’s first full fidelity headphones with an in-built hearing test to protect users ears.
They also boast to deliver a supreme, catered sound like no other headphone.
If this sounds like something you want to wrap around your ears then you’re in luck. The Adueara cans are currently attracting a lot of interest over on Kickstarter.
They appear to have been an instant hit, reaching their funding target within the first 15 hours. It has now more than doubled its original target!
What’s the point?
Well, everyone has a degree of hearing loss. Even though I consider myself to have great hearing, 27 years of playing in bands and going to live gigs will obviously still have taken its toll.
But it’s not just loud gigs that can cause hearing loss. Busy streets, police sirens, roadworks, as well as listening your headphones too loud.
More and more young people have some loss of hearing. Apparently an increasing number with the same hearing health aged 30 that people would usually associate with a 60 year old.
Hearing tests
Audeara headphones can be used to test and retest hearing over a lifetime and adapt music to the users’ individual needs.
They “make music better, not louder” as well as claiming to provide perfect sound, always.
The first time the headphones are worn, the user undertakes a hearing test; the results of which are subsequently stored in the headphones themselves.
The headphones use this hearing profile to adjust the sound signal as it passes through them. They adjust the right ear differently from the left. This should mean that each part of the signal reaches the user’s brain as a perfect reflection of the intended signal.
What makes the Audeara headphones especially powerful is that all the technology is inside the headphones themselves.
After the first test, the app isn’t required again unless the user wants to retest.
This means headphones are no longer passive magnets for signal conversion, instead, they’re sophisticated tools for personalised sound reproduction.”
The technology
The headphones are calibrated via an app over Bluetooth. The profile is used as the baseline for accurate audiogram testing.
After the user performs the audiogram, a modulation table is applied. This adjusts all incoming musical signals to the user’s requirements.
Using an attenuation model, rather than increasing gain, ensures maximisation of the overall signal intensity, without distortion.
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With the modulation table stored in the on-board PCB, there’s no need to retest every time. You obviously can retest should you want, though.
Also, the app stores numerous profiles that are then uploaded and stored as the active profile so, I guess, you can share them.
As you can see the audiogram results you can track any deterioration. It’s also an educational tool in preventing long-term hearing impairment.
Should your profile show significant impairment an alert will be shown, which suggests they seek more specialist advice and analysis.
Audeara price and availability
The Audeara Headphones are currently available to backers from £155 on the Early Bird Special (RRP: £310).
They will be widely available in July 2017.
