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Nura Headphones
Adaptable acoustics
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t is always the thing we use the most that we pay the least attention to. Same goes for our gadgets. An example of such a gadget is headphones. If not misplaced, they get stepped on and break. So, the search for a new one begins. Unfortunately, we don’t appreciate the importance of having the right headphones unless we lose them. We test many headphones and then finally settle on one which we think, at that moment, meets all, if not most, of our requirements.
getting through and which are not. Nura is a combination of a microphone and headphones. Our ears produce a sound of their own, called “otoacoustic emissions”. A sensitive microphone is in-built in Nura, which picks up and analyses these emissions. Using this information, Nura adjusts the speakers present in the headset to produce a sound which is tailor-made for your hearing. You just need to calibrate Nura once before using it. The process of calibration is simple. Using Nura’s smartphone app, tones of 11 different frequencies are generated to measure the relative sensitivity of your ear to these tones. It takes 30 seconds to 1 minute to complete this test. Once the test is complete, a unique hearing profile is generated and stored in the app and headphones.
After a few days, we realise that listening to a 30-second snippet of a random song and measuring the performance of a pair of headphones is like measuring a cricketer’s ability in 3 balls. Just as some cricketers are meant for one day and some for 20-20 matches, everybody’s hearing ability is different. What if I told you there are headphones in the market which can adjust itself according to your hearing? ‘Nura’ is a pair of headphones that measures and adapts to its user’s hearing. After wearing them, it automatically measures your hearing and adapts to it in the span of 30 seconds. Our hearing is as unique as our voice and fingerprints. Each of us has different sensitivities to different frequencies of sound. This means that the same pair of headphones sound different to different people. This is where Nura comes into the picture. It knows which sound frequencies are CREDENZ.INFO
The design of the headphones is also unique. It’s made up of both in-ear and over-the-ear sections. The over-the-ear section plays low-frequency tones i.e. bass and the in-ear bud plays high tones, which gives crystal clear notes, creating an immersive listening experience for the user. Nura’s makers ran a Kickstarter campaign with a target of $1 Million. The idea was well received by people and it raised a whopping $1.8 million, surpassing its target by a huge margin. Various experts tested these headphones and their reactions were mostly positive. The sound quality was unanimously praised, but the sound tests still need some tweaks. The product is expected to start shipping around May 2017. Ultimately, Nura is a product that will leave you wondering why you used those lacklustre headphones all those years. It’s a perfect gadget for audiophiles. Put on Nura, sit in a dark room and get lost in an album. - Ganesh Kulkarni Associate Software Engineer Accenture Pune SEPTMBER 2016 2016 P.I.N.G. P.I.N.G. ISSUE ISSUE 12.1 12.1 SEPTEMBER
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