Rutgers Engineers Turn Regular Headphones into Sensors
Written by AZoSensorsMar 12 2021
How do you turn dumb headphones into smart ones- Rutgers engineers have invented a cheap and easy way by transforming headphones into sensors that can be plugged into smartphones, identify their users, monitor their heart rates and perform other services.
Their invention, called HeadFi, is based on a small plug-in headphone adapter that turns a regular headphone into a sensing device. Unlike smart headphones, regular headphones lack sensors. HeadFi would allow users to avoid having to buy a new pair of smart headphones with embedded sensors to enjoy sensing features.
Engineers have invented a cheap and easy way of turning “dumb” headphones into smart ones.
The method transforms headphones into sensors that can be plugged into smartphones, identify their users, monitor their heart rates, and perform other services.
The researchers based their invention, called HeadFi, on a small plug-in adapter that turns a regular headphone into a sensing device. Unlike smart headphones, regular ones lack sensors. HeadFi would allow users to avoid having to buy a new smart pair with embedded sensors to enjoy sensing features.
“HeadFi could turn hundreds of millions of existing, regular headphones worldwide into intelligent ones with a simple upgrade,” says Xiaoran Fan, a HeadFi primary inventor and recent Rutgers University doctoral graduate who now works at Samsung Artificial Intelligence Center.