There is a curious paradox in one of the most unexpected gadgets of the summer. Audio-Technica, a Japanese company that has spent more than six decades manufacturing microphones, headphones and hi-fi equipment so that let’s listen to every last nuance of a song, has just launched a product whose objective is exactly the opposite: that we listen to less.
Or, rather, that we listen only to what is important. With the World Cup filling stadiums, bars and fan zones with almost permanent noise, the firm has presented the AT-ERP3, a reusable plugs that do not seek to isolate us from the environment, but rather to reduce its intensity without turning the world into a silent place. And behind that idea there is much more science than it seems.
Modern stadiums can easily exceed 100 decibels during the most intense moments of the game. In some particularly noisy encounters, values close to 130 dB have even been recorded. (recorded in 2005 in a match between Liverpool and Chelsea), a level comparable to that of a rock concert. From prolonged exposures above 85 dB, the risk of hearing damage begins to increase, according to organizations such as the World Health Organization.
That is why these plugs, with a weight that barely exceeds a gram, they do not work like headphones with active noise cancellation. Instead of generating one sound wave to cancel out another, they use passive acoustic filters that attenuate the volume evenly. The result is that the chants, the narration over the public address system or the conversation of the person next to us are still perfectly audible, but they reach the ear with much less intensity.
Perhaps the most striking thing is who makes them. Audio-Technica does not come from the world of labor protection or industrial equipment. Their business has always been about capturing and reproducing sound as faithfully as possible. Precisely for that reason You know very well which frequencies are essential for understanding a voice, enjoying music or having a conversation.
Now That same knowledge is used to decide which sounds are worth keeping… and which are best left out. In some ways, the company has not abandoned its philosophy. Keep trying to make us listen better. Only he has understood that, in a full stadium or in an increasingly noisy city, the best way to do it is not always to turn up the volume, but to eliminate some of the noise.