The Times - UK (2020-11-14)

the times | Saturday November 14 2020 1GM 23

News

Since the Sony Walkman came along in

1979 and introduced us to the notion of

perambulating to Purcell or jogging to

Joni Mitchell, headphones have be-

come a ubiquitous part of modern life.

Now technology may render the

modern headphone as redundant as

the device that fuelled its popularity.

Noveto Systems, a company based in

Israel, is releasing the SoundBeamer

1.0, which promises to create a 3D

sound for the listener that is both “pri-

vate and immersive” without the need

for headphones.

It involves a process called “sound-

beaming”, where sensors in a stereo

track the position of a listener’s ear. At

the same time, ultrasonic waves are

pushed out into the air and form two

small pockets of energy just outside the

ears in the space headphones would be,

and then emit bubbles of 360-degree

sound. Anyone outside of the beam’s

path cannot hear anything.

The bubbles do not cancel out exter-

nal noise, meaning someone listening

to music at work will not miss an impor-

tant call or their boss coming up behind

them to ask a question.

The device can also be used in the car,

allowing passengers to listen to differ-

ent music while not blocking out what

people are saying.

Ayana Wallwater, a product manager

at Noveto Systems, said: “Most people

just say, ‘Wow, I really don’t believe it.’

You don’t need to disturb others and

others don’t get disturbed by your

sound. But you can still interact with

them.”

Noveto is not the only company that

has worked on devices that can beam

sound just to the listener. Amazon last

year released Echo Frames, a pair of

smart spectacles that connect to Alexa

and have technology in the speakers

that directs sound downwards to the

ears and minimises what others hear.

Sony released a product in 2016 called

Concept N, which looked like a

futuristic necklace and had tiny

directional speakers that sent the audio

upwards so only the user could hear it.

Neither has yet managed to generate

mass appeal.

Bubbles sound death

knell for headphones

Tom Knowles

Technology Correspondent

Beam me up

Sensors in stereo

locate and track the

ear position in real time

2 Ultrasonic waves

produced by

stereo converge into

pockets of sound

outside the ear

1

Source: Noveto

TMS

[email protected] | @timesdiary

Johnson on

PMs’ foibles

Boris Johnson has written the

foreword, hopefully not at his usual

rate per word, for a new book on

Britain’s 55 prime ministers edited

by Iain Dale, in which he notes that

the first 34 were shy about using the

title. Johnson blames this on it

having “French connotations” — it

was not formally adopted until 1905

— but he says “the coyness is finally

beginning to fade”. Johnson informs

us that all prime ministers possess

“human foibles”, in a rare moment

of self-awareness. “Disraeli was

mired in debt,” he wrote, “Gladstone

was a fanatical chopper-down of

trees and Pitt the Younger delivered

some of his finest orations while

intoxicated.” Pitt’s alcoholism was

due to the father of his successor,

Henry Addington, who was Pitt’s

doctor and prescribed him a bottle

of port a day to cure (yes, cure)

gout. It may not have helped his

health, but it made him well-

disposed towards the doctor’s son.

Before he was PM Henry Addington,

above, spent 12 years as Speaker of

the Commons, a role that Pitt secured

for him despite Addington having

spoken only twice in his first three

years as an MP. It loosened his

inhibitions and he became so prolix

and pompous (Bercovian, some might

say) that, according to the book, it

“removed any chance of him learning

to become a competent debater”.

murder mustiquery

Lady Glenconner, the socialite and

maid of honour at the Coronation,

has written her first novel at the age

of 88. The murder thriller is set on

the Caribbean island her husband

bought in 1958. Mustique was very

popular with Princess Margaret, for

whom Glenconner was a lady-in-

waiting, but she told a Fane event

that it was often Margaret who

waited on her. “She was always

cleaning and doing the fire,” she

said. When Glenconner protested,

Margaret would remind her: “I was

a Girl Guide and you weren’t.”

The Queen also visited Mustique.

Glenconner recalled their maid

showing other guests around the bay

after she left and telling them: “The

Queen swam here last week. We

haven’t changed the water since.”

the party lines

Promoting his new book, The

Glamour Boys, the Labour MP Chris

Bryant told the Political Party

podcast that he is a frustrated actor.

So many politicians are, though

occasionally a proper actor, such as

Glenda Jackson, chooses to tread

the Westminster boards. “She used

to say,” Bryant recalled, “that the

difference between parliament and

theatre is that parliament is under-

rehearsed and badly lit.”

acting out

The leading man on the Tory

benches these days is Giles Watling,

a former actor whose Garrick Club

tie and theatrical timbre indicates

that Clacton is represented by a

man who loves the smell of

greasepaint in the evening. This

came out during a recent culture

committee hearing when the

chairman, Julian Knight, told MPs

that they had been asked to call

their witness Lord Lloyd-Webber or

he wouldn’t answer their questions.

At this, the booming Watling

declared: “Well that’s the LAST

time I appear in one of his shows.”

patrick kidd