Alphabet's moonshot lab is working on a device to give people superhuman hearing
Alphabet has attempted to take on some wild projects over the years, like a crop-sniffing plant buggy and fish-tracking cameras. But now, its X lab is working on a device that could give people superhuman hearing. As Insider first reported, the project, codenamed "Wolverine," is exploring the future of hearing through sensor-packed hardware. The team, members of which spoke to Insider anonymously, say they're currently trying to figure out how to isolate people's voices in a crowded room or make it easier to focus on one person when overlapping conversations are happening around you.
They've already iterated on the device multiple times, including devices that covered the whole ear and others that protruded from above the ear. These iterations have been large because the team incorporates lots of microphones into the build, but newer versions are smaller, Insider says. Multiple people from hearing technology companies have joined the team, including talent from Starkey Hearing Technologies and Eargo.
Also at 9to5Google.
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Blog post. Also at Financial Times.
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(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 05 2021, @09:24AM (2 children)
... I'm all ears.
(Score: 4, Funny) by c0lo on Friday March 05 2021, @11:45AM (1 child)
You aren't wearing them right. Oh... wait... sorry, that's the other guy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 05 2021, @01:24PM
They let you hear only what Google wants you to hear. Do they have a Qanon model that lets you hear the voices in your head clearer?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 05 2021, @11:27AM
Keep the troublemakers locked up on pie-in-the-sky projects 'til the Wall Street bean counters
kill the projects off.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 05 2021, @11:43AM (4 children)
Why not develop a low-cost regular hearing aid that lets old people hear again, instead of spending your time developing super-hearing skills that will only be used to give marketers the ability to eavesdrop on a conversation across the room so they can better target their advertising.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Friday March 05 2021, @11:50AM (3 children)
They get COVID this way. You know, 5G and all that?
Seriously speaking, the cochlear implant [wikipedia.org] is quite old and effective.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 05 2021, @12:41PM (2 children)
>> cochlear implant
OP was referring to hearing loss, not erectile dysfunction.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 05 2021, @01:50PM (1 child)
Oh, well, since there's no "-5 Lame joke" mod
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 05 2021, @11:34PM
This thread has devolved into a cochness monster.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 05 2021, @01:27PM (2 children)
They'll get the device working perfectly, it'll become the best hearing aid device ever, everyone will rely on it, and then suddenly while you are in the middle of a very important and urgent conversation they will discontinue it in the middle of the conversation and the device will stop working and you will be stuck unable to hear anything because they decided it's not profitable. Now you have to find a new device but nothing else comes close for what you need.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 05 2021, @03:34PM
But if Facebook ever made hearing aids they would be tied to your Facebook account and if you ever arbitrarily get banned from Facebook your hearing aids would immediately stop working.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 05 2021, @04:15PM
Fuck Google.
It will come with an app, and spy on everyone and everything around you.
Even people who don’t lip-read will instinctively watch the speakers lips in a noisy environment to increase comprehension. We’re incredibly adaptable.
And there’s always sign language. Even Google can understand a raised middle finger without an app.
One thing we need to do is reduce ambient noise. Offices got quieter when many people switched from desktops to laptops.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 05 2021, @01:58PM
... all those android phones are kept in pockets where the cloth rustle prevents google listening in on the world. But if they get every fool to wear two extra high performance mikes at each ear, then their ability to spy on the entire world is that much improved.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 05 2021, @02:01PM (1 child)
It can join Google glass, you know, the thing to give you super-human looking, over at https://killedbygoogle.com/ [killedbygoogle.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 05 2021, @04:24PM
Given that it can eavesdrop on conversations between two people that they would expect to be private, it will be banned in many areas as violating expectations of privacy.
Mind you, as a test I was able to eavesdrop on conversations at the other end of a subway car (just to see if it was possible) by using a Sony Walkman with built-in cassette recorder , built-in mic, and headphones. Hit record, pause, and adjust the volume accordingly. I guess even then they had some noise canceling tech built in. This was back in the ‘80s.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 05 2021, @03:12PM (1 child)
the hearing aid battery won't have time to run down
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 05 2021, @04:14PM
At least the battery would last the lifetime of the product.
(Score: 1) by UncleBen on Friday March 05 2021, @05:53PM
...I welcome ALL competition. I may never ever buy anything the Big Evil G (BEG) makes, but they might kick the industry in the pants.
The bad thing BEG will bring is surveillance. Right now, I can wear my BlueTooth-enabled hearing aids into places that forbid cameras & phones. Once BEG's surveillance capitalism hits its stride, I'm pretty sure I'll have to lay my ears next to my phone at the checkpoints. Guess I better learn ASL if I'm ever going back into data centers.
The other thing BEG will do is normalize a lack of Food & Drug Administration (FDA, US overseer of medical devices) oversight. It's unbelievable how much paperwork goes into my ears: but then you wear 'em into a garage where a really loud compressor takes off suddenly and then you know why: my hearing aids will literally burn out before sending a signal strong enough to cause (more) damage. It's a pain, the conflict between software and Total Power Output (TPO) is something mine bounce off all the time because my remaining dynamic range (quietest to pain) is so limited. But you can bet your sweet bippy the FDA-regulated MFRs had to prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that TPO will always win.
Still, I welcome them to the game. If all they do is make the wearer the customer, that's a Nobel-prize improvement. The traditional model is the lab's the customer. Which, for those asking for hearing aids for the poor, is where the game is lost. The software to setup old aids is what's lost, preventing re-use.
Anyway, I for one welcome our new BEG overlords.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 05 2021, @07:34PM
You can't manage people if you don't know what they are saying behind your back.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 05 2021, @08:30PM
now instead of grandmas being weaponized via their iphones and android phones, google is weaponizing granny herself. what a world.
(Score: 2) by Socrastotle on Sunday March 07 2021, @02:57AM
The hearing aid will transmit all observed signals to Google's servers for "processing" before (and if) they then decide to replay it back to you. You know, to improve the quality of their service. Because hearing is a service.