Six years after earphones went wireless, first connected to our devices using Bluetooth, and made calls with voice control, the industry is preparing for the next generation of in-ear technology.
The demands of our fast-paced digital world necessitates evolution and so product designers are drawing up components for Headphone 3.0 technology. Headphone 1.0 we can think of as the flimsy foam-covered devices that came with our portable Walkman cassette players. While sound quality greatly improved in the intervening years, the advent of wireless, Bluetooth-connected earbuds and headphones became the Headphone 2.0 generation.
But Headphone 3.0 promises to be truly handsfree, giving full control to the user who will manage their bespoke world from their own ears.
Multi-function technology within the device will reposition the earphone from an input-only accessory to an output innovation. Music and audio yes, but also a host of apps, hearing aid, comprehensive health tracker, hands-free gaming interface, and even your biometric identity.
EarSwitch® is among the first innovators to develop patented technology to enable hardware manufacturers to make Headphone 3.0 (or more accurately for our technology: Earphone 3.0) a reality. We are working with US company Sonical on its new ‘Headphone 3.0’ technology which will come with a new app-based operating system.
We have developed an in-ear sensor which will be able to track your gaze and eye movements from your earphone caused by monitoring movement of one of the smallest muscles in the body. Our unique technology – devised and developed by a former NHS doctor – also reads pulse, heart rate, blood oxygen levels, temperature and more. The EarSwitch® can also be intuitively controlled using a subtle squeezing motion within the ear, so users will be able to control how they interact with the world as simply as gazing at an object or just flicking a switch.
Embedded in your device, this earphone-3.0-ready patented technology will enable the user to design their own bespoke way of interacting with their environment. It will take communication, control and management of their health data to a new level.
For an informal chat about how you could licence this proprietary technology to advance the in-ear revolution, email us today: nick@earswitch.co.uk.