Tech

New audio tech could let you listen privately without headphones

With acoustic metasurfaces, researchers bend sound waves to their will

An image of pink human figures in a crowd. In the center is one orange human figure looking up and smiling as audio waves go through its ears.

Scientists are developing technology to deliver private audio directly to a listener’s ears out in the open so that others nearby can’t hear it.

PETER CROWTHER

By Ananya Palivela

Controlling sound has long been a staple of science fiction and fantasy. In Dune, the cone of silence allows characters to converse privately, even in open spaces.