Awareness! The Headphone App

Sometimes we just want to shut out the world around us and put on our headphones. Unfortunately this can be a dangerous move for pedestrians or cyclists. There have recently been a series of incidents where teenagers and cyclists have been hit by cars because they were listening to music with headphones in. Due to this a company called Essecny has released "Awareness! The Headphone App". This app will allow users to listen to music but will not completely block out other sounds, resulting in the person remaining safe and aware.

The application uses the built in microphone on the iPhone and iPod Touch to record and recognize outside sounds. Then once it determines the street level noise it will bleed in all louder noises through the headphones. No matter the volume level of the music the user will still be able to hear sirens, shouts, direct conversation or any other important sounds.

To avoid filtering in nearby conversations or other unnecessary sounds the user can manually adjust the microphone level. The user can also control what types of sounds they want to be interrupted by, such as car horns or train platform announcements-all without having to remove their headphones. While this app aims to create more street safety I wonder how effective it can actually be. I think this is a good starting point to work towards a higher level of street safety but I wouldn't depend on it entirely. In busier cities like New York it's pretty impossible to escape a cacophony of sounds so how would the device be able to distinguish from warning sounds and everything else going on around you? Or without compromising listening quality? Also if users can customize and pick and choose between what sounds they deem important then it almost defeats the purpose of the whole thing. Overall I think people just need to be more conscious of themselves at all times and if they want to use this app as additional security then that could prove helpful in some ways. Lastly, this app is only compatible with the iPhone 4, iPod Touch 3 and iPod Touch 4 which could prove somewhat limiting.