Noveto launches SoundBeamer for 3D audio without earphones

SoundBeamer 1.0 debuted with a new desktop device. Its goal is to provide localised sound for users alone by tracking the position of their ears and sending a sound bubble that enables them to hear 3D audio while still being able to catch other sounds. The bubble can be programmed to move with the user or remain in one place.

A short demo was given to a number of reporters from the Associated Press last week. The reporters said clips of swans on a lake, bees buzzing and a babbling brook played during the demo. Users said they felt like they were part of the scene. In a Noveto demonstration conducted via Zoom from Tel Aviv, the company's product manager, Aya Wallwater, could not hear gunshots in a gaming demo playing for someone else.

“You don’t believe it because it sounds like a speaker, but no one else can hear it,” she said. “It’s supporting you, and you’re in the middle of everything. You don’t need to tell the device where you are. It’s not streaming to one exact place. It follows you wherever you go.

“This is what we dream of, a world where we get the sound you want. You don’t need to disturb others and others don’t get disturbed by your sound. But you can still interact with them.”

Noveto says it believes SoundBeamer has plenty of practical use applications from allowing office workers to listen to music or conference calls to playing a game in a room while others watch a movie. The sound is available in stereo or 360° spatial 3D mode.

SoundBeamer is the first consumer branded product with this sound beaming technology. However, Apple and Sony have been working on 3D spatial audio, with the latter company launching 360 Reality Audio last year. Sony’s version creates the same feeling of being surrounded by audio, but needs headphones to work. Sound beaming could change that requirement, especially in AR and VR applications. The company aims to start launching products next year.