????比如當(dāng)你騎自行車(chē)的時(shí)候，你的耳機(jī)可以自動(dòng)讓你在聽(tīng)音樂(lè)的同時(shí)聽(tīng)見(jiàn)周?chē)?chē)的聲音,，這就解決了安全與聽(tīng)音樂(lè)之間的一個(gè)大矛盾,。獵手可以通過(guò)專(zhuān)門(mén)的耳機(jī)區(qū)分獵物的聲響與噪聲。足球運(yùn)動(dòng)員戴的耳機(jī)可以過(guò)濾觀眾的噪聲,，放大隊(duì)友的聲音,。這對(duì)西雅圖海鷹隊(duì)的“第12人”或者其他震耳欲聾的粉絲團(tuán)將是個(gè)沉重的打擊。當(dāng)然,，它也可能將成為體育官員們要應(yīng)對(duì)的一個(gè)棘手的問(wèn)題。

????微型化技術(shù)的發(fā)展使得如今的耳機(jī)差不多已經(jīng)可以實(shí)現(xiàn)上述所有功能,。比如布拉吉公司（Bragi）最近生產(chǎn)的一款Dash無(wú)線耳機(jī)小到可以塞進(jìn)耳孔,，卻同時(shí)搭載了一些生物測(cè)量傳感器、一個(gè)微型話筒,、藍(lán)牙裝置和4GB的存儲(chǔ)空間,，真是麻雀雖小，五臟俱全,。帕克認(rèn)為,，隨著LTE和Wi-Fi連接普及到小型電子設(shè)備上，無(wú)線技術(shù)對(duì)于未來(lái)的耳機(jī)來(lái)說(shuō)將成為司空見(jiàn)慣的事,。

????另外,，生物計(jì)量技術(shù)可能使耳機(jī)在游戲界的地位變得越來(lái)越重要。比如勒伯夫所說(shuō)的“放松游戲”可以利用聲音的反饋對(duì)用戶進(jìn)行訓(xùn)練,，比如可以讓一個(gè)聲音患者進(jìn)入放松狀態(tài),。另外，勒伯夫還認(rèn)為,，在不久的將來(lái),，我們說(shuō)不定可以利用耳機(jī)的生物測(cè)量功能來(lái)玩?zhèn)鹘y(tǒng)游戲。比如說(shuō)在一款需要生物體征反饋的游戲中,，如果你想從布魯斯?班納變成綠巨人,，你就必須真的生氣才行；或者在某款社交游戲中,，根據(jù)用戶本人的健身效果,，游戲里的人物形象也會(huì)被賦予不同的外觀。

????音樂(lè)使游戲雖然能讓人上癮,，但是智能耳機(jī)的功能遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不止于此,。它能使聲音成為一種信息服務(wù)的基礎(chǔ),，發(fā)揮出我們難以想象的效力。斯派克?瓊斯在2013年的電影《她》（Her）中描繪了主角與他的人工智能助手之間的親密關(guān)系,，而他們之間的溝通就是僅僅通過(guò)一部耳機(jī),。哈曼公司的帕克認(rèn)為這一點(diǎn)非常有預(yù)見(jiàn)性?！岸鷻C(jī)將成為一個(gè)重要的信息中心,，就像今天的智能手機(jī)一樣?！?/p>

????不過(guò)他補(bǔ)充道：“但是要發(fā)展到這一步,，還有很多工作要做?！卑ㄟM(jìn)一步推動(dòng)語(yǔ)音識(shí)別與應(yīng)答技術(shù)的發(fā)展,。“有多少人用谷歌的Google Voice當(dāng)主要界面,？它必須要100%的精確,。”同理,，對(duì)蘋(píng)果的Siri也是一樣,。

????不過(guò)，不管自然語(yǔ)言處理技術(shù)發(fā)展得多好,，一套成熟的智能耳機(jī)界面恐怕還是離不開(kāi)語(yǔ)音控制與手勢(shì)控制（手勢(shì)操作可在耳機(jī)外殼的觸摸板上進(jìn)行）,。另外，大家也可以通過(guò)頭部運(yùn)動(dòng)進(jìn)行輸入,，比如將頭擺向一邊就可以切換到下一首歌,。

????帕克認(rèn)為，智能耳機(jī)最能大顯身手的時(shí)候,，是受環(huán)境驅(qū)動(dòng),、而非受指令驅(qū)動(dòng)的時(shí)候。他暢想道：“根據(jù)你所在的地方,，所處的環(huán)境,，”未來(lái)的耳就機(jī)能夠預(yù)估用戶的需求，提供相應(yīng)的服務(wù),。比如在博物館里提供導(dǎo)游服務(wù),，或是在一座新城市里標(biāo)出地標(biāo)建筑等。

????最后我們不要忘了耳機(jī)被設(shè)計(jì)出來(lái)的初衷,。有了更強(qiáng)的環(huán)境感知能力,、連接性和處理能力后，“智能”耳機(jī)也會(huì)改善人們聽(tīng)音樂(lè)的體驗(yàn)。比如有了生物體征數(shù)據(jù)和地理位置數(shù)據(jù)后,，智能耳機(jī)就可以根據(jù)用戶的心情和場(chǎng)合調(diào)整音樂(lè)——在健身房里播放重金屬或舞曲,，在子夜時(shí)分播放氛圍音樂(lè)或調(diào)式爵士樂(lè)。

????英國(guó)消費(fèi)者研究與科技設(shè)計(jì)公司PDD的馬爾科?普來(lái)夫尼克說(shuō)：“從音樂(lè)消費(fèi)的方式來(lái)看,，我們都淪為了便利性的奴隸,。音樂(lè)總是在放，但是保真度很低,，噪音很高,。聽(tīng)音樂(lè)幾乎成了其他體驗(yàn)的添頭。如果耳機(jī)可以向音樂(lè)添加額外的情感或意義,，那將是件好事,。”（財(cái)富中文網(wǎng)）

????譯者：樸成奎

????For instance, when you get on your bicycle, your headphones could automatically let you hear the sounds of nearby cars through your electronic dance music, solving one of the major conflicts between safety and enjoyment for cyclists. Hunters could use specialty headphones to separate game noises from environmental sound. A headphone worn by a football or soccer player could filter out crowd noise and amplify teammates’ voices— a serious blow to Seattle’s “12th Man” or any other deafening fan bases, and a potentially thorny issue for sports commissioners.

????Miniaturization has already nearly made it possible for headphones to pack in all that capability. The recent Kickstarter project for Dash earbuds, a wireless pair of earphones made by a company called Bragi, already cram some biometric sensors, a microphone, Bluetooth, and 4GB of storage into a device meant to fit inside a user’s ear. Park predicts that wireless technology will be typical of future headphones as LTE and Wi-Fi connections spread to smaller electronic devices.

????Biometrics could also make headphones even more central to the gaming world. There’s what LeBeouf calls “relaxation gaming,” which would use sound feedback to train a user, such as a therapy patient, to enter a relaxed state. LeBoeuf also imagines using headphone biometrics to affect play in more traditional video games. A biofeedback-enabled game might require you to actually get angry to transform from Bruce Banner into the Incredible Hulk, or a character in a social game could be given a different appearance based on the users’ own fitness.

????Music and games may be the gateway drugs, but smart headphones could also make sound the basis for information services of a sort we’ve never seen before. Spike Jonze’s 2013 film Her depicted a close relationship between a user and his artificial intelligence-equipped personal assistant, who interacts with him only through an earpiece. Harman’s Park thinks that’s prophetic. “Earphones or headphones are going to become major information hubs, just like smartphones now.”

????“But,” he adds, “a lot of things have to be done along the way.” That includes pushing voice recognition and response technologies much further. “How many people use Google Voice as their dominant interface? It has to be 100% accurate.” The same thing goes for Apple’s Siri.

????Still, no matter how good natural language processing gets, a full-fledged headphone interface would likely combine voice with gestures through touchpads on the headphones’ surface. Input may also come from head movement, such as nodding your head to one side to skip to the next song.

????Smart headphones would be most useful when driven by context rather than command, Park said. He envisions headphones able to anticipate and provide for a user’s needs “based on where you are, based on the current context of your situation. We call it augmented hearing.” That could include things like providing a tour of a museum or describing landmarks in a new city.

????And let’s not forget what headphones were originally designed for. With greater context awareness, connectedness, and processing power, “smart” headphones could enhance the audio listening experience. With biometric and location data, smart headphones could tailor music to moods and moments: heavy metal or dance music for the gym, ambient or modal jazz for the wee hours of the morning.

????“The way music gets consumed, we’re slaves to convenience. It’s always on the go, really low fidelity, high noise,” says Marko Plevnik of U.K. consumer research and technology design firm PDD. “It’s almost an add-on to another experience. If headphones can add extra poignancy or meaning to music. That’s a good thing.”