CES has at all times been the place for bizarre, out-there devices to make their debuts, and this 12 months’s present is not any exception.
Skyted, a Toulouse, France-based startup based by former Airbus VP Stéphane Hersen and acoustical engineer Frank Simon, is bringing what seem like a pair of human muzzles to CES 2024. Known as the “Mobility Privacy Mask” and “Hybrid Silent Mask,” the face-worn accoutrements are designed to “absorb voice frequencies” in noisy environments like plains, trains and ride-shares, Hersen says.
“Skyted’s solution is ideal for commuters, business executives and travelers anywhere,” Hersen is quoted as saying in a press launch. “No matter how busy or public the location is, they can now speak in silence and with the assurance that no one nearby can hear their conversation.”
Picture Credit: Skyted
Now, there’s no getting round the truth that the strap-secured masks aren’t precisely indiscreet or fashionable… except the Dyson Zone tickled your fancy. And at round half a pound (220 grams), they’re not precisely light-weight, both. However Hersen makes the case that the tradeoffs are value it for the privateness the masks (allegedly) afford.
Skyted’s masks are constructed from sound-dampening materials that Simon developed whereas at ONERA, the French aerospace lab — initially for jet engines. They sync (through wire or wirelessly) to a smartphone app that provides a pass-through toggle to pipe speech by means of the cellphone’s speaker — minimizing the necessity to take away the masks. The app additionally calculates the wearer’s “voice level” and reveals insights into their “perceptibility” and “intelligibility,” type of like a Fitbit for speech.
The masks muffle 80% of a wearer’s voice, Skyted claims, whereas enhancing the amount in voice and video calls by isolating outdoors noise. And so they’ve been examined with “leading” (albeit unnamed) transportation suppliers, with backing from each ONERA and the European House Company.
To this reporter, although, the masks seem like a shot at midnight. Skyted’s advertising and marketing suggests as a lot.
On its web site, Skyted advertises… uncommon in-app options like a “voice awareness” mode that lets dad and mom quiet their noisy mask-donning children whereas they’re enjoying video video games. (It’s not completely clear how this works; maybe energetic noise cancellation?) Skyted, the truth is, pitches the masks as a extra “immersive” option to play video games and even has a piece of its web site devoted to protection and navy purposes. Skyted claims to have labored with the French navy and the Defence Innovation Company, France’s navy R&D arm, to develop a customized masks solely for submariners and particular ops.
Picture Credit: Skyted
Skyted seems to be testing a medical masks of some kind too — which, taken with all the opposite sectors it’s going after, suggests a scarcity of focus. The scattershot go-to-market — coupled with the eye-watering $299 beginning worth and low-tech competition — doesn’t bode properly for Skyted’s upcoming Kickstarter.
Then once more, Skyted managed to safe ~$1 million in seed funding final 12 months, according to CrunchBase information. Maybe there’s a much bigger marketplace for face-mounted, sound-absorbing wearables than I believed.
