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Hush: The World's First Smart Earplugs

hush.technology

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Re: Hush: The World's First Smart Earplugs

#31

Post by bashinator »

chockablock wrote: post #29
bashinator wrote: post #13

These are definitely not the world's first smart earplugs - Etymotic has been offering this kind of technology for quite a long time now. http://www.etymotic.com/gsp15.html

I think it's a reasonable claim. Those Etymotics are just a mic-and-speaker system that does 'compression' (in the audio engineering sense of that word)--they're actually more analogous to an in-ear hearing aid. [Edited to be less snarky, before I noticed the reply]

They dynamically adapt to the environment. I'd call that pretty smart for earplugs - certainly more directly applicable to their intended usage than smartphone-style connectivity. [edited to remove snark]

Re: Hush: The World's First Smart Earplugs

#32

Post by d4n13ll33 »

chockablock wrote: post #16
d4n13ll33 wrote: post #2

Developer here! Hoping to get some feedback if possible!

I really like this idea! Combining isolation and masking in a standalone in-ear device is very clever. Personally I'm less interested in the ability to be interrupted by alerts from a smartphone. When I'm sleeping I want to sleep. When I'm working, I can get vibration alerts from my phone. Have you considered a 'dumb' version with just pre-recorded masking audio and no wireless features?

Thanks! :D

Haven't considered that :/ I would have to ask around to see if there is significant interest enough to merit the engineering costs to make a cheaper version :/ Thanks for the input though!

Re: Hush: The World's First Smart Earplugs

#33

Post by d4n13ll33 »

RickHull wrote: post #12
d4n13ll33 wrote: post #2

Developer here! Hoping to get some feedback if possible!

My biggest concern generally is in-ear comfort. Short of molded customs, every in-ear headphone I've tried causes canal soreness within an hour or two, including the "sound delivery straw" designs with delicate foam or rubber surrounds. Secondarily, it looks like the current model sticks out, causing pressure if one's head is resting on its side. That said, my ear canal soreness is largely due to canal deformation re…

There are some people that have very differently shaped ears that we simply can't account for with a single design. Can I ask which part of your ear got irritated so that I can make a note?

http://www.rudyard.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/external-e...

Was it the tragus?

Re: Hush: The World's First Smart Earplugs

#34

Post by syva »

fernandotakai wrote: post #8

man i so thought this played music, it would be the perfect headset for me. i like listening to audiobooks before sleeping and every single bt headset i tried doesn't let me move around while laying down (mostly because the wrap around the back of my head).

http://www.earin.com/

Re: Hush: The World's First Smart Earplugs

#35

Post by joshvm »

d4n13ll33 wrote: post #10
fernandotakai wrote: post #8

man i so thought this played music, it would be the perfect headset for me. i like listening to audiobooks before sleeping and every single bt headset i tried doesn't let me move around while laying down (mostly because the wrap around the back of my head).

Yeah, we had to limit that because it is first and foremost a noise isolation device for sleep and we had to have 10 hours of sound generation to be able to get through the night :( We're considering in V2 to let it be an option to stream audio for like an hour or so and then autoshutoff! This is our "MVP"

Good. Keep it simple! So many Kickstarters fail because the founders try to overreach and end up making products that do a mediocre job of their USP and a worse job of all the tiered extras they throw in. Feature creep will kill you.

Re: Hush: The World's First Smart Earplugs

#36

Post by d4n13ll33 »

bashinator wrote: post #31
chockablock wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's a reasonable claim. Those Etymotics are just a mic-and-speaker system that does 'compression' (in the audio engineering sense of that word)--they're actually more analogous to an in-ear hearing aid. [Edited to be less snarky, before I noticed the reply]

They dynamically adapt to the environment. I'd call that pretty smart for earplugs - certainly more directly applicable to their intended usage than smartphone-style connectivity. [edited to remove snark]

Yeah, those etymotic's are smart in their own right. I'm just riding the "smart wearable" trend and making the "world's first smart" claim based on the understanding of smart being a connected device! :)

Re: Hush: The World's First Smart Earplugs

#37

Post by bashinator »

d4n13ll33 wrote: post #32
chockablock wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I really like this idea! Combining isolation and masking in a standalone in-ear device is very clever. Personally I'm less interested in the ability to be interrupted by alerts from a smartphone. When I'm sleeping I want to sleep. When I'm working, I can get vibration alerts from my phone. Have you considered a 'dumb' version with just pre-recorded masking audio and no wireless features?

Thanks! :D Haven't considered that :/ I would have to ask around to see if there is significant interest enough to merit the engineering costs to make a cheaper version :/ Thanks for the input though!

Combined isolation and masking is a great feature! You might consider working with the author of Noise Machines[0] for a later iteration. That site is a lifesaver in a noisy office.

[0] http://mynoise.net/noiseMachines.php

Re: Hush: The World's First Smart Earplugs

#38

Post by d4n13ll33 »

joshvm wrote: post #35
d4n13ll33 wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, we had to limit that because it is first and foremost a noise isolation device for sleep and we had to have 10 hours of sound generation to be able to get through the night :( We're considering in V2 to let it be an option to stream audio for like an hour or so and then autoshutoff! This is our "MVP"

Good. Keep it simple! So many Kickstarters fail because the founders try to overreach and end up making products that do a mediocre job of their USP and a worse job of all the tiered extras they throw in. Feature creep will kill you.

Exactly! Thanks for understanding dude!

Re: Hush: The World's First Smart Earplugs

#39

Post by errantspark »

d4n13ll33 wrote: post #23
chromakode wrote: post #11

For anyone who sleeps on their side, earplugs with plastic extending outside the ear canal is a very uncomfortable experience. How is this an improvement over soft foam inserts? Also, how is this different from using in-ear headphones with Comply tips? http://www.complyfoam.com/

We've done a lot of tests with the ergonomics of it - even delaying our launch for a month so that we could iterate more because the side-sleeper comfort wasn't up to par. it's smaller and rounder than what you see in the video as we filmed the first half of the video before our final design. ~70% of the people we had sleep with it for an entire night noted that it was comfortable. that number will get even better as…

So your main selling points versus the competition is lack of wires and ease of use?

Would you agree if you're not bothered by wires or complexity a pair of active noise cancelling canalphones with Comply tips will outperform Hush by a wide margin?

Re: Hush: The World's First Smart Earplugs

#40

Post by chockablock »

bashinator wrote: post #31
chockablock wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think it's a reasonable claim. Those Etymotics are just a mic-and-speaker system that does 'compression' (in the audio engineering sense of that word)--they're actually more analogous to an in-ear hearing aid. [Edited to be less snarky, before I noticed the reply]

They dynamically adapt to the environment. I'd call that pretty smart for earplugs - certainly more directly applicable to their intended usage than smartphone-style connectivity. [edited to remove snark]

Fair enough.

Arguments about marketing aside, the 'Hush' and the 'Gun Sport Pro' have very different capabilities and serve different functions and markets.

It's too easy when you see a new product to point to something similar and say 'Meh--nothing new here'. In this case I think there's real innovation and I responded to your post to try to make that point.

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