Attentive Headphones: Augmenting Conversational Attention with a Real World TiVo ®
Aadil Mamuji, Roel Vertegaal, Changuk Sohn, Daniel Cheng · 2005
Computer users in public transportation, coffee shop or cubicle farm environments require sociable ways to filter out noise generated by other people. Current use of noisecanceling headsets is detrimental to social interaction because these headsets do not provide context-sensitive filtering techniques. Headsets also provide little in terms of services that allow users to augment their attentive capabilities, for example, by allowing them to pause or fastforward conversations. We addressed such issues in our design of Attentive Headphones, a noise-cancelling headset sensitive to nonverbal conversational cues such as eye gaze. The headset uses eye contact sensors to detect when other people are looking at the wearer. Upon detecting eye gaze, the headset automatically turns off noise-cancellation, allowing users to attend to a request for attention. The headset also supports the execution of tasks that are parallel to conversational activity, by allowing buffering and fastforwarding of conversational speech. This feature also allows users to listen to multiple conversations at once.