Flare Audio wants to upgrade your ears with passive hearing device earHD

The lugholes attached to your bonce have a very particular design. Sound reflects off of the pinna, which acts like a funnel. This helps you determine where sound’s coming from, but it also causes distortion, which is rubbish for focus, immersion, and high-def audio. Enter earHD (from £199). Resembling a pair of tiny ear trumpets from the future, this wearable acts like a satellite dish, focusing sound uniformly into one central location. Point them forwards and you can focus solely on what’s in front of you. The sound isn’t amplified (earHD isn’t a hearing aid), but the result is reportedly like ‘cleaning’ what you hear – there’s less clutter, increased detail, and a heightened audio experience. All that might sound like a load of rot, but boffins at the University of Southampton have verified the claims, which – if you were getting excited about this Kickstarter – may be music to your ears.

Craig Grannell Contributor

About

I’m a regular contributor to Stuff magazine and Stuff.tv, covering apps, games, Apple kit, Android, Lego, retro gaming and other interesting oddities. I also pen opinion pieces when the editor lets me, getting all serious about accessibility and predicting when sentient AI smart cookware will take over the world, in a terrifying mix of Bake Off and Terminator.

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Mobile apps and games, Macs, iOS and tvOS devices, Android, retro games, crowdfunding, design, how to fight off an enraged smart saucepan with a massive stick.