Bose, maker of popular “room-filling” speakers, has been recently demonstrating a new category of products. Their new Hearphones are headphones that allow you to better hear your surroundings.
For many people suffering from hearing loss but do not need or qualify for hearing aids, personal sounds amplification products can remove the frustrations of every day life. Even those with perfectly normal hearing could benefit from the Hearphones in certain environments. Restaurants with noisy crowds, TVs, and other distractions can be hard places to hold a conversation. The Hearphones have directional microphones that allow you to”tune” in what you want to hear and reduce the volume of background noise.
An app on your smartphone allows you to control and configure your Hearphones. You can also stream music directly to the device like traditional Bluetooth headphones. The Hearphones are no more noticeable than traditional headphones/earbuds as well.
Another use case given is watching television with a group of people. A person might need a louder volume in order to hear it but that might be uncomfortably loud for the others in the room. The Hearphones allow that person to increase the volume of the sound while the others experience it at a comfortable volume.
The Hearphones are being demonstrated this week but no other announcements have been made at this time. If interested, you can sign up for updates at http://hearphones.bose.com/