MutE: Bringing IoT to noise cancellation

Abstract

Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) is a classical area where noise in the environment is canceled by producing anti-noise signals near the human ears (e.g., in Bose's noise cancellation headphones). This paper brings IoT to active noise cancellation by combining wireless communication with acoustics. The core idea is to place an IoT device in the environment that listens to ambient sounds and forwards the sound over its wireless radio. Since wireless signals travel much faster than sound, our ear-device receives the sound in advance of its actual arrival. This serves as a glimpse into the future, that we call lookahead, and proves crucial for real-time noise cancellation, especially for unpredictable, wide-band sounds like music and speech. Using custom IoT hardware, as well as lookahead-aware cancellation algorithms, we demonstrate MUTE, a fully functional noise cancellation prototype that outperforms Bose's latest ANC headphone. Importantly, our design does not need to block the ear - the ear canal remains open, making it comfortable (and healthier) for continuous use.