Doppler Labs’ Here wants to change how you hear the world
Doppler Labs’ Here wants to change how you hear the world
2015-07-09
anyone who knows me would tell you that
I'm super obnoxious about sound I mean
that's why I'm recording this in a
soundproof closet how would you describe
my taste in headphones
problematic you're working on sound
right there alright I am working on
sound right now and it's not so bad
you'd hate it
it's like a scene movie with me it's one
of the worst experiences I saw Jurassic
world with you and you complained about
the sound the entire time yeah I'm that
guy wearing custom molded ear plugs to a
concert to make it sound better and
protect my hearing so I got pretty
excited when I saw this Kickstarter for
something called the here active
listening system it's essentially
putting a studio in your ears so you can
live curate the audio you hear so you
have the perfect audio experience for
you every single time this is super cool
right the idea is that you can put these
things in your ears and take control of
the sound around you the company making
here is called Doppler labs they're an
immersive wearable tech company what we
mean by that is we create products that
hopefully help you get computing out of
the way of your daily life look I know
what you're thinking and it's definitely
not lost on me that we had sound
problems in an interview about sound
anyway dopplers goals sound really broad
but basically they want to make he
robles tiny products you put in your
ears to enhance your world here is just
one of those products and one of its
main goals is to mess with the balance
of frequencies and the sound around you
so the way it works is the audio goes to
your ear the stuff you don't want a
target reduce goes back but then we
create antinodes in that specific
specific frequency so what your ear ends
up hearing again with zero latency is
the real world
- this frequency you've told it to
remove so for instance I'm listening to
this loud indie band in a super cool
underground club you've probably never
heard of the sound guy is completely
drunk and there's too much snare in the
mix if I find the frequency as the snare
is occupying I could turn down just
those frequencies and smooth out the mix
going to my ears this is what sound
engineers have been doing for decades in
live sound and recording but what the
hear system aims to do is bring these
effects directly to your ears and
tailored directly to your tastes it goes
a little beyond EQ to
I should say the effects you're about to
hear are just an approximation of what
here actually sounds like but it is
pretty close I can flange your entire
order all of it which is kind of nutty
or I can reverb your entire world
or I can echo your entire world right as
you enjoy it which is intense
I can bit crush your entire world it
does sound wild and it's a lot of fun I
haven't tried the finished product yet
but the prototypes I tried did have some
issues it's hard to have a conversation
with them in your ears because of
something called the occlusion effect
where you hear your own voice resonating
through your skull a lot like this
there's also this whiny grainy layer of
noise that sits under everything just
loud enough to be perceived they also
tend to clip and distort when the sound
level rises above a conversational
volume I have to imagine dopplers going
to fix these issues by the time here is
actually available but there was one
problem I'm not sure will go away the
seal between the earbuds and my ear
wasn't that snug and that means that
here isn't completely isolated from the
outside world so when I turn down the
volume for instance sound from the
outside still leaks in and it sort of
kills the illusion and remove some of
the control that the product needs in
order to work you know ears come in all
different sizes and shapes and once you
try to make a product like this you
realize quickly that we can fit a vast
majority but there's probably still
going to be an ear or two out there in
the world that we you know may not fit
optimally in they've definitely thought
about this problem though and they'll
include three sizes of rubber ear tips
with each pair so are you guys at a
party like checking out other people's
ears like I have like inspecting shapes
and sizes into something car and like
look at people Siri text each other ages
all the time of weird ears it's a good
thought process so how would I fit and
that person say here those are really
funky ears
it's that borderline obsession with ears
that drives Doppler actually their first
product dubs was a simple pair of ear
plugs
while dubs were a compelling product on
their own Doppler used them to see if
people really wanted to be seen in
public with designer objects in their
ears at all before moving on to more
ambitious projects it helped us see that
these categories and especially in your
wearable tech is something that people
really do get excited about if you
approach it the right way and that
really built the foundation for our
flagship product you look at people's
ears on the subway I guess where Google
glass was super weird to see a screen
attached to somebody's face it's not
uncommon to see ear but so you guys kind
of have it had a head start in like
social acceptance yeah I think that's
what we from the very GetGo was excited
about to introduce technology into the
ear we felt was a more approachable
place to start people it's easier for
people to kind of accept that you may
have something in your ears when you're
interact with someone and it sounds like
here is just the beginning of that being
able to change the acoustic properties
of a concert is great but here isn't
designed to be worn all day or in every
situation for one thing their tiny
battery is only lasts for about four or
five hours although they do come with a
nifty charging case that can charge them
on the go but Dopp was definitely moving
in that direction of the hero bowl an
object you put in your ear when you
first wake up and you leave it there
until you go to bed we want to put a
computer speaker mic and everyone's ear
right that's a computer of course along
with it and that's a lofty mission and
as evidenced by the Dubs as a starting
point we're very conscious about step
functions to make sure we can get there
and this product for us is very much a
episodic nuance product for a niche
audience that will use it when they go
out but if they get all the steps right
Doppler could be the company that
creates the babel fish or tiny in your
virtual assistants like the ones in her
we look at this much more in that vein
of kind of things that enhance your life
are hopefully you know your smart
assistant the thing that allows you to
communicate better that allows you to
really we're trying to put something in
your ear that becomes indispensable long
term and really becomes part of the way
you interact with the world the here
system is probably not that
indispensable here we'll Noah is talking
about but it could be an important step
in the right direction the prototype is
only six months old and it's already
really impressive so who knows maybe
Doppler we'll be the ones to put a
personal assistant in our ears but in
the meantime I'm pretty pumped about
being able to mess with the sound around
me
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