According to the European Environmental Agency, 48,000 people a year develop ischemic heart disease every year, due to long-term exposure to environmental noise, despite the EU’s attempts to install counter measures, like the 2002 Environmental Noise Directive. But for many, ear plugs and noise-canceling headphones only offer temporary reprieve - which, in a world of constantly-humming devices and non-descript background noise, can make for a maddening lack of quiet tech companies are looking to fix.
Israeli company Silentium is taking a particularly interesting approach to innovating noise interference technology, with their “Quiet Bubble” system. Consisting of a speaker and microphone, Silentium’s is designed to be installed anywhere; bedroom headboard, living room wall, garage ceiling… anywhere you need interference, the Quiet Bubble system takes the active noise cancellation from headphones and brings it to room-scale, offering light sleepers potential relief from the loud snorers and late-night TV watchers in the home.
Through the use of computer algorithms testing (and matching) an area’s sound wave output, noise canceling technology is something with untested potential in many applications; on airplanes, in noisy malls or parks - or even on a personal level, to help counter those who have disorders like misophonia, which can trigger negative emotional responses to sound. With active noise cancellation and other burgeoning tech like directional sound sound projection, the future is bright… and more importantly, quiet.
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