Researchers create AI headphones that reproduce a single voice and cancel noise

Researchers developed a system coupled to headphones that allows you to choose to listen just one voice amidst noise. Using artificial intelligence, the tool is able to cancel all other sounds in the environment and play back to the user only what the selected speaker says.

To use, simply look at a person for three to five seconds for the headset to register their voice and, from then on, the system becomes fixated on them. After that, even if the dialogue participants move, the lines will continue to be played.

O project entitled “Target Speech Hearing”, carried out by researchers at the University of Washington, was presented during the sequence of conferences at the Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems held in Honolulu, Hawaii, in early May.

“In this project we developed artificial intelligence to modify the auditory perception of anyone using headphones, according to their preferences. With our devices, you can hear a single speaker clearly, even if you’re in a noisy environment with lots of other people talking,” said Shyam Gollakota, professor at the University of Washington’s Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science and Engineering and one of the study authors.

As the software was produced with artificial intelligence, it can learn over time, creating a database fed by the user. As the chosen speaker speaks, the more accurate the identification becomes when he comes into focus again.

In the prototype, two microphones were placed coupled to a headphone model earphone. When the person being tested starts to speak, the user turns to them and presses a button that records their voice, a sound that must reach both sides. A signal is sent to the computer that has software that learns the vocal patterns of the desired speaker. This cancels out other sounds in the environment and only the selected voice is played on the headset.

For the future of the project, the team wants to expand the system to in-ear headphones and hearing aids.

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