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Amazon Patents Noise-Canceling Headphones That Could Automatically Turn Off When It Detects Certain Sound Patterns (thenextweb.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report via The Next Web: Noise-canceling headphones are great for tuning out the din around you when you just want to focus on listening to music or enjoy some peace and quiet. Unfortunately, they also mute sounds that you might need to hear -- like someone calling your name. Amazon has a pretty cool idea for solving that problem. It was recently granted a patent for headphones that not only cancel out noise, but also listen to specific sounds or phrases (like 'Hey Ben') and respond by automatically turning off the feature so the user can hear sound from their surroundings. That should make it safer for use in noisy environments where you might actually need to pay attention to the occasional alert, such as a construction site or an industrial facility. In addition, the headphones can also listen for phrases to turn noise canceling back on again, so the user can resume their listening experience hands-free.
This is a patent. The patent probably just includes a small black box labelled "ambient noise analyzer" in what is otherwise just a standard set of headphones. The related text explains that (not how, never how) the "ambient noise analyzer" will monitor noise and listen for command phrases to enable additional functionality.
Now that this is patented, R&D has 20 years to make it work and sell enough to make profit.
Recognizing sounds and phrases isn't new. Executing a control action based on that input is not new. Noise cancellation is not new. If it were me I'd laugh loudly when rejecting this patent.
Now, if you could just allow that phrase only to pass through in real time, or even with some delay, that would be quite a technology to patent.