It’s an age-old scenario that seems to have been around as long as the in-car entertainment system. The one where parents and kids argue over what music is played while in the car. Most of the time, it’s the folks that get to play their “old” music while the young ones make do with listening to their tunes on their headsets hooked up to whatever mobile device is en vogue at the time.
The downside of all this, of course, is isolating one or several persons and relegating them to their own world. Yet scenes like this may soon be a thing of the past as Kia Motors puts forward its latest technology, the Separated Sound Zone.
As the name suggests, each “zone” or area of the vehicle can now have its own sound using technology that’s akin to noise cancellation systems. But instead of using headphones, the tech employs acoustic fields that control what sounds each passenger hears within their part of the vehicle. The driver and passenger, for instance, can each have different sounds filtered thru the speakers within their side of the vehicle. And so do each of the other passengers.
These sounds can be anything from music, vehicle function alerts, or a phone call via Bluetooth or hands-free connectivity. This way, the kids can each listen to their respective favorites without distracting Mom or Dad. And vice-versa. More importantly, the sound zones don’t isolate occupants unlike conventional headsets.
At present, Separated Sound Zone is only a concept. But this could very well be what a lot of families have been waiting for.
