Exclusively under your ears: 3D headphone printing

Original author: Leslie Katz
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Startup OwnPhones plans to use the magic of 3D printing to create the perfect wireless earbuds for customers.


Yours and yours alone: ​​Earphones are slated to launch this year,

Jasmine France, a former author of CNET audio reviews, complained about her “ too small ears, ” which made finding her earphones really difficult. Well, @WeirdEaredJas , we have news for you. Startup OwnPhones plans to launch production of personalized wireless headphones printed on a 3D printer.

“Ears are like fingerprints — each one is unique, so it's time to give consumers headphones that are perfect for them,” said Itamar Jobani, founder and CEO of the new San Diego company.

To complete product development, OwnPhones launched a $ 250,000 campaign on Kickstarter in July. However, those who signed up for campaign launch notifications were offered a 50% discount. Headphone retail prices are expected to range from $ 299 to $ 499.

In order to get their headphones, users will need to open a special mobile application from OwnPhones and shoot a short video that needs to capture both ears (I'm going to approach this issue a bit creatively and shoot an “ear” video in the style of “Game of Thrones” remix ).

After creating the video, the mobile application will upload it to the company's server. OwnPhones, in turn, using photogrammetry (the science of determining the properties of objects from photographs) will transfer frames from a video to a 3D model. The customer has the right to choose the material (plastic, gold or silver), as well as the style of the headphones offered by the company. He can even indicate his favorite sport (for example, snowboarding), after which the company will combine the obtained analytical data with a mechanical simulation of the selected type of activity in order to choose the most suitable appearance of the headphones.

The headphones also have various smart functions: for example, the ability to fine-tune the audible sound (from complete sound isolation from the outside world, to a combination of user music with city noise). Using the indicator light, you can find out the status of the owner of the headphones (green = free, ask what you want; yellow = busy, but you can contact if necessary; red = do not come closer than 3 meters to my aura).

The idea of ​​printing headphones on a 3D printer was born by Jobani (the sculptor and creator of the installations) after another fall of the headphones during jogging.

“Ordinary headphones hurt because they put pressure on the ears. If they don’t press, they fall out, ”Jobani said. “Custom OwnPhones headphones, for example, sit perfectly when you run or jump.”

I was not able to “scan” my ears this week, so I still have no idea how well the custom-made headphone assembly process works. But I do not exclude the possibility that the new headphones will be the best of all that I wore.

Only registered users can participate in the survey. Please come in.

And how do you feel about such experiments?

  • 87.6% Positive (I see a certain potential for such projects) 670
  • 5.8% Negative (need to deal with more pressing issues) 45
  • 6.4% The Future Shows (3D Printer Owner) 49

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