Doppler Labs’ Here Active Listening is like all good innovative tech in that it provides a solution to a problem that you didn’t really know that you had in the first place. Billed as “hearables,” the Here wireless earbuds are essentially wearables that fit into your ears and allow you to turn the world around you into your own personal studio, granting you the power to alter every sound that you hear.
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It’s an out-there concept, but Here does have some real-world applications. Paired with a free smartphone app, Here allows you to alter the balance of a variety of frequencies before they hit your ears, allowing you to equalize noise along with giving you the ability to choose from a variety of different pre-installed sound settings, such as adding reverb or fuzz. An obvious use for this would be in listening to live music, where you could fiddle along with the app’s EQ Playground in order to find the frequency that will enable you to lower the volume of the crowd in order to focus your ears upon the band.
It’s tech that is focused upon creating new experiences for the user, and it seems that plenty of people are inveigled by it, with its Kickstarter campaign having racked up $635,189 worth of pledges since it was debuted on the site a little under two months ago. Doppler are going after a niche audience, but the Here seems like it could jump-off point for Hearables and that the company could be standing on the precipice of technology that will have more useful functions in the near future.
“We look at this much more in that vein of things that help enhance your life,” Doppler Labs’ CEO and co-founder Noah Kraft told The Verge. “Your smart assistant, that thing that helps you communicate better; we’re trying to put things in your ear that become indispensable in the long-term, and that becomes part of the way you interact with the world.”
The Hear Active Listening earbuds will likely only find a home with those who are looking for a fun new tech experience, but it’s clear that Doppler Labs have bigger plans for their brand in the future. Given that the Here prototypes already look interesting, we’re looking forward to seeing what they have in store.
