Alphabet's Moonshot Factory developing Wolverine, a wearable hearing enhancer
What's the story
Google's parent company Alphabet Inc. has a subsidiary called X, also referred to as the Moonshot Factory, which chases seemingly wild ideas. The latest one is a wearable that enhances hearing capabilities. Business Insider reports that the project codenamed Wolverine will help the wearer focus on a single speaker in a crowded room. The project has been in development since 2018.
Speech segregation
Wolverine in-ear device will make conversations easier in crowded spaces
Wolverine is being developed to further a concept called speech segregation. The idea is similar to active noise cancellation, in that the wearable will have microphones to process and separate ambient noise. However, Wolverine will block out ambient noise and enhance a particular speaker's voice. The in-ear device is reportedly packed with sensors and microphones. Evidently, it is challenging to design it.
Going beyond
Wolverine may not be just one device or application
Business Insider's sources said Wolverine has been through many design iterations. Early versions of the device covered the entire side of the ear, or protruded out from above the ear. The sources stressed that Wolverine may not be just one device or application if it comes into fruition. A team member even emphasized that the project needs to go beyond speech segregation.
Alphabet confirmed
X's CEO, Google co-founder received early Wolverine demonstrations in 2019
Alphabet told Business Insider that it was "exploring the future of hearing". The tech giant added that X's CEO Astro Teller and Google co-founder Sergey Brin received early demonstrations of the Wolverine project in 2019. While X has brought to life projects such as Waymo self-driving cars, it has also killed off projects such as Loon citing financial unviability.
No details
X is also developing a face-worn device named Heimdallr
However, Alphabet didn't say what other use cases are being explored for the Wolverine project. The Business Insider report highlighted that X is back to working on wearables after a break following the Google Glass project. X is also reportedly working on a face-worn device called Heimdallr named after the all-seeing, all-hearing Norse god. No other details of this project are available.