The IQbuds from
Nuheara are
equipped with noise-
cancellation
technology.
Credit: Nuheara
If you've ever
been on a
crowded bus and
found yourself
stuck between a
loud conversation
on one side and
obnoxiously loud
music on the
other, the idea of
being able to
cancel out that
background noise
like bliss. Now, new earbuds can not only
help boost your hearing and cancel out pesky
noise, but also serve as wireless earphones
for making phone calls and listening to music
hands-free.
Wearable devices such as fitness trackers
and smartwatches have become popular
accessories, and recently, companies have
started developing "hearables" — earbuds
that electronically control how a person hears
the world.
The IQbuds from Nuheara in San Francisco
can use Bluetooth to wirelessly connect to a
smartphone. As such, these earbuds can act
like wireless earpieces, so you can listen to
music, podcasts or audiobooks in stereo;
make hands-free phone calls; and engage
with Siri and other voice-enabled apps. Users
can also answer phone calls and start or
stop audio with a simple tap of the earbuds.
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Furthermore, IQbuds are equipped with noise-
cancellation technology, which generates
sounds that can neutralize background noise,
such as distracting chatter in crowded
places. In addition, microphones in each
IQbud capture incoming audio, letting in
sounds that you may want to hear, such as
someone next to you talking to you. As such,
people can "genuinely and in real time
experience the ability to augment their
hearing in noisy social environments," said
Nuheara co-founder David Cannington.
A smartphone app accompanying the IQbuds
can help users control exactly what they hear
in the world around them. Moreover, the app
can save hearing settings personalized for
specific environments; for instance, you may
want to hear as much of your surroundings
as you can while riding a bicycle, but
suppress background noise while in a cafe.
The founders of Nuheara came up with the
idea for the IQbuds in late 2014. Cannington
said that no other wireless earbud combines
a Bluetooth earpiece with the abilities to
boost hearing and cancel noise.
IQbuds can operate over 4 hours of
continuous use with the help of rechargeable
lithium-ion batteries and low-power
electronics that optimize battery power. And
the carrying case that holds the earbuds
houses three additional charges, granting an
extra 12 hours of battery life, the company
said.
Nuheara representatives said hearables will
grow to become a large segment of the
wearables market. "Voice-recognition
technologies will drive how consumers
interact with their devices, and hearing-
technology platforms will play a major role in
this development," Cannington said.
"Fifty million people in the USA alone have
some degree of hearing loss. They will be our
early adopters," Cannington said. Moreover,
younger audiences "like the idea of bionic
hearing," Cannington said.
In 2015, Nuheara raised $750,000 in seed
money for the project, and in 2016, the
company raised $3.5 million when it went
public. The business also has $480,000 in
pre-orders from more than 2,200 backers in
an ongoing Indiegogo campaign .
So far, more than 300 people have tested
IQbuds prototypes, in Australia, the United
States and Canada, Cannington said.
Nuheara plans to ship IQbuds to backers in
December, and the devices should reach the
market in early 2017, he added. They will be
compatible with Android and iOS devices, the
company said.
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