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And Finally Business News
Amazon patents headphones that switch off when your name is called
By Chris Cooke | Published on Tuesday 2 August 2016
The other day at the office where I was working there was a bit of a kerfuffle as management marched a dodgy looking fella off the premises. Having originally claimed to be “maintenance”, he then started shouting “but I’m a member of the public”, as if that was the perfect excuse for prowling around a private office building.
So that was all fun. But here’s the thing, I missed it all. Why, because my desk faced the wall and the headphones I was using – which I may or may not have nicked off a BA plane – were so damn good at blocking out noise, I was totally oblivious to the entire episode. And I hate missing episodes.
But Amazon might have a solution to that problem. According to C-Net, it has just been granted a patent for headphones that are not only noise-cancelling, but also switch off if certain words are exclaimed near by, such as the headphone wearer’s name. They could also stop the music if things like alarms or sirens were heard, making them safer to use out and about. Which is all very clever. Though possibly annoying if, like me, [a] you have a very common name or [b] you work somewhere where sirens go past all the time.
Though if it can recognise people shouting “but I’m a member of the public” so I don’t miss out on viewing future office security-based kerfuffles, then I’m in.
