Hooke is a pair of Bluetooth headphones that also double as binaural, or 3D, recorders. The project is currently entering its final day on Kickstarter, having raised $154,000 over its $100,000 goal, and is scheduled to ship in June 2015.
Unless you are a raging audiophile, you are probably wondering why you’d want a pair of binaural recorders attached to your head. Its creator, sound designer Anthony Mattana, explains that professionals can use it for live concerts, virtual reality technology (like Oculus Rift), lectures, live theater, and cinema. Consumers can use it for an array of scenarios that they want to immortalize in 3D sound.
“Imagine grandma is sick and home for Christmas. Parents could capture Christmas morning and livestream the event to grandma. All grandma needs is a regular pair of headphones to feel like she’s there. Imagine capturing your child’s first time riding a bike in 3D audio or your family trip to the beach,” Mattana says. In addition to its Bluetooth connection, Hooke also comes with a stereo 1/8” cable so it can be used with devices like GoPro or DSLR cameras.
Mattana, who is based in Brooklyn, spent five years working as a sound designer for live theater productions.
“I’ve always been in love with the immersive qualities of live sound, the true feeling of being there. However, I wanted to find a way to capture that immersive sound and let someone outside of the theater feel like they were there. So I started researching into 3D audio or binaural recording technology and discovered that all the current products required a lot of equipment, were very expensive, and were not very portable,” he says.
“I wanted to make 3D audio recording as portable as a GoPro camera, so I combined all of the technology found in professional binaural recording solutions into a simple, affordable pair of wireless headphones. Now a user can listen to music on their smartphone and record 3D audio without any extra gear.”
Hooke already has a functional prototype, a production schedule, and manufacturers. Mattana says that the ship date for the product also takes into consideration any problems that might occur in the production process.
“No Bluetooth chip currently does what Hooke’s does. Because of this, we knew it was important to have a functional prototype prior to launch. From this point on, any setbacks that may occur will come from mass production manufacturing and we have given ourselves plenty of time by setting the delivery date to June 2015,” he says.
For more information, visit Hooke’s Kickstarter page.