Imagine you’re out for a jog or riding on the bus. For some this is an opportune time to pop in their earbuds and listen to some music or listen to a good book, but sometimes those earbuds fall out because they don’t fit your ear perfectly, especially if you’re on the move. This can be quite frustrating.
A San Diego start-up company called OwnPhones has discovered a solution—3D-printed tailored earbuds.
How do they work?
Get a friend to take a close-up picture of your ear using the iOS app (an app is not yet available for Android), and upload your ear picture via app to the OwnPhones server where it’s converted into a 3D model and then printed using 3D-printing technology.
The earbuds use Bluetooth 4.0 technology so they’re completely wireless and can be customized in a variety of ways. For example, you can select your colors, style, and materials, which can be customized to be more rugged if you need the earbuds for more strenuous activities, but you can also create your own version of selective hearing.
Using the app, you can control whether you want to shut out external sounds and allow just “Real World Notifications,” such as transportation announcements, phone calls, or doorbells. You can even blend outside sounds with whatever you’re listening to.
You can even use an OwnStatus LED- a light system that tells others that you’re busy. This works almost like a traffic light (red indicates busy and green let’s people know it’s acceptable to approach).
Watch this quick teaser video to see what these headphones are all about.
OwnPhone’s Kickstarter campaign goes live in July so you’ll be able to get some more pricing information then.
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