Bose Bows Sound Calibration Tech in Newest Noise-Canceling Earbuds

The latest Bose noise cancellation technology cancels noise over a wider range of frequencies than previously, a presenter said during a demonstration. That includes voices “so you can focus even if a chatty person is next to you or you’re on a long flight next to a crying baby.”

During the demo, journalists were instructed to test the fit of the buds to ensure a proper seal, which was key to the customized calibration to each user’s ears. An ear fit test on the Bose Music app showed the percentage of seal before the calibration began. CustomTune measures how users’ ear canals “warp” sound played into them, compensates for any distortion and then tailors sound performance and noise cancellation to the ears, said Dan Gauger, Bose distinguished engineer, who also worked on Bose’s original consumer noise-canceling over-ear headphones launched as a first-class perk for American Airlines in 1999.

Each earbud has four mics to sense, measure and send unwanted noise to a chip loaded with a Bose algorithm, the company said. Along with tiny transducers, the system responds with a precise, equal and opposite signal in "a fraction of a second."

We found the QuietComfort Earbuds II's noise-canceling quality impressive. Quiet mode silenced the presenter's voice; we could only hear his voice when we switched to “aware mode,” which provides some noise-canceling but allows voices to be heard. We experienced the same degree of noise cancellation when toggling between quiet and aware modes on demo videos -- with accompanying sound -- of the interior of a subway car, an airplane cabin and a drive down a suburban street.

All calibrations are done on the earbuds. When we asked how calibrations affect battery life, Gauger said the processor used to measure the ears’ properties “goes to sleep” after the initial measurement. Noise-canceling is in two parts: feedback and feedforward systems. The feedback system uses a mic underneath the earbud that measures acoustics of the ear canal; the feedforward system uses multiple mics on the outside that sense sound as it arrives, he said. The feedforward system continually monitors and adjusts if it senses changes in the earbud’s position, he said. A news release gave battery life as six hours, with three additional charges available via the case.

On why Bose is introducing CustomTune now, Raza Haider, chief product officer, told us the Qualcomm 5171 chipset and development of proprietary algorithms allowed Bose to achieve an “unprecedented level of noise-canceling in an in-ear form factor.” He highlighted three current areas of focus for Bose in sound experiences: (1) noise-canceling to “remove as much noise as possible to create that clean palette”; (2) “immersive audio" created by advanced transducers and tweeters and “upmixed sound”; and (3) contextual awareness using algorithms and computers to automatically adjust sound as users’ "traverse different environments" in the home or on the road. “In all those different areas, we felt we made enough of an improvement to launch something new," Haider said.

On whether CustomTune has applications in the over-the-counter hearing aid market, Haider said the technology has “lots of hearing applications.” For now, Bose is partnering with hearing aid manufacturers in that market, he said, citing the company’s July announcement with direct-to-consumer hearing aid provider Lexie Hearing. “That’s a complex regulatory environment,” and a different customer segment from Bose’s traditional base of “people who really care about sound,” he said. Bose’s primary focus is on "the sound and music enthusiast for our first-party product and then using partners who take our technology into areas where there might be other applications," he said.