Here And Now

Wireless earphones have become extremely popular over the last few years, and much more practical for those who have an active lifestyle, or just don’t want to get tangled up in wires. These ear buds are now becoming incredibly advanced and are starting to include some of the technology we see in our newer hearing aids.

Technology gurus Samsung and Apple have both recently released their newest ear buds, packed full of smart features usually associated with hearing aids to provide the user with seamless sound. The most notable feature of these ear buds is the Active Noise Cancelling (ANC). This blocks out any unwanted noise, allowing you to listen undisturbed to your music, podcast or film. In the Samsung Galaxy buds the algorithm constantly monitors the environment you are in cancelling out more noise if you are in a loud environment or reducing it for quieter spaces.

Samsung have also included Voice Detect in their ear buds, switching them from ANC to Ambient sound when it hears your voice. For example, it allows you to listen to your music whilst out shopping and blocks out all outside noise, but automatically turns off, lowering the volume of your music when you talk to the cashier to pay for your items.

The Apple Air Pods Pro have an adaptive equaliser that uses the microphones within the buds to adjust the audio specifically for your hearing, ensuring you get the best sound out of your ear buds.

It is fantastic to see that technology companies have added these features to their ear buds, providing a seamless listening experience for the user, whilst protecting their hearing with the ANC and ambient listening features and reducing the need for the sound to be turned up to levels that could be potentially damaging.  

Other ear buds are available containing similar technology such as the IQbuds² MAX from Nuheara which won Time Magazines award for Best Invention in 2020.