People suck. Not all people, but the ones that take loud phone calls on public transport, or walk through the shops on speaker phone particularly suck. Nobody cares how important it is to “optimize our synergies and drive the deliverables to align with the thought leadership”, so please be quiet.
However, this incredibly effective torture method could soon come to an end thanks to the team at Skyted. Skyted is a sound absorbing face mask that ensures nobody in your vicinity will hear a word you speak.
Their mask uses an acoustic absorber that reduces voice vibrations by 80%. They’ve coupled this with a pair of bone conductor microphones to theoretically allow you to have a completely private conversation, absolutely anywhere.
While it’s still a prototype, I was able to get a demonstration of the bone conduction microphones and the background noise suppression was exceptional. In the middle of CES, with blaring speakers and overlapping conversations, I was able to hear the person with the bone conductor microphone at both regular speaking volumes and whispering, with only a faint echo of the background noise.
Mind you, the quality of the microphone leaves a bit to be desired, but this prototype was practical in exhibiting it’s ability to hold a private conversation in a very public space.
The team are still finalising the aesthetic of the product with a few different models floating around. The below are the corporate, gaming and everyday designs respectively:
The very distinct gaming model is quite a bit larger, as it’s less focused on it’s style, but rather containing the excessive yelling heard during rounds of Fortnite.
Now I’m not here to give fashion advice, but if you’re willing to throw one of these on, you’ll be met with a pretty neat voice isolation for all your top secret voice conferencing needs. It also practically doubles as an N95 face mask for safeguarding against airborne viruses like COVID.
The Skyted is still in development and doesn’t have a price point as of yet, but keep an eye out for this one, coming later this year. Their official website is skyted.io.
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