Japanese telco giant NTT announced last Wednesday a new tech that could apparently eliminate sound leakage from any headphones, even open-ear earphones.
The technology apparently uses a design for a speaker enclosure that can keep sound in a really small space.
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As per the NTT, this technology will allow you to communicate with people around you without having to think about sound leakage to the surroundings.
Currently, you can somewhat eliminate sound leakage by using in-ear earphones. However, they can be a bit uncomfortable for some, which is why they prefer open-ear earphones, bone-conduction earphones, and other alternatives.
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However, these types of audio devices are notorious for leaking sound, which can be annoying to those people around you, especially in an office or work-from-home setup.
That’s what NTT’s tech is trying to fix. The hardware will localize sound using a single speaker with strategically placed holes.
NTT said that the design “enables the sound leakage to become very small as sound moves away from the ear.” The company is calling this Personalized Sound Zone (PSZ).
As per their testing, you can be listening to music at 80dB volume and anyone 15cm or longer next to you won’t hear anything. NTT is also marketing the tech toward aircraft passengers.