It’s been a while since we saw a real Google external device coming along, in the line of Project Ara or Google Glass. A new leak from the X division of Google (technical) parent company Alphabet definitely qualifies. According to the unconfirmed report, “Project Wolverine” is a device that can isolate audio to focus on a specific person or source.
Details are sparse, although Business Insider reports that the technology has been developed since before 2018. The application is obvious: many people struggle to hear one person in the crowd, to say nothing of those whose hearing is physically disabled. (Yes, the project is named after the super-hearing ability of X mans‘s Wolverine – there is no indication that it will heal wounds immediately or give your kick metal claws.)
The device has other features besides speech isolation, and the X-team is actively working on expanding their utility, but the applications have not been spelled out. Business Insider claims several anonymous sources and that an X spokesman confirmed that he was investigating the future of hearings, although the company declined to comment on any details.
According to the leak, the Wolverine technology has gone through various form factors to accommodate the challenging physics of multiple microphones. Some of the initial hardware was crammed with sensors that ‘covered the entire side of the ear’. Obviously, it has to be miniaturized, or used with other hardware such as a phone or a tablet, in order to be a viable commercial product.
BI reports that the survival of Project Wolverine can by no means be assured: it has yet to prove that it can be applied to retail or industrial hardware. This would hardly be the first of Google’s “Moonshots” to fail. But it’s operational enough to demonstrate people like Astro Teller, the head of the X division, and Sergey Brin. Whether anyone will see this technology in any kind of shipping product, anyone recommend.
Copyright: 20th Century Studios
