Smart earbuds use AI to hear even a whisper in noisy environments

Описание: (7 Jan 2026)
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Las Vegas, Nevada, US - 6 January 2026

1. Mid of Tyler Chen, CEO and co-founder, Subtle Computing, wearing Voicebuds smart earbuds
2. Wide of Chen demonstrating Voicebuds by speaking softly while colleagues make noise
3. Close of Smartphone showing Voicebuds technology, isolating Chen’s voice in noisy environment
4. Wide of "Voicebuds” stand sign
5. Close of Chen wearing Voicebuds smart earbuds
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Tyler Chen, CEO and co-founder, Subtle Computing:
"Subtle Voicebuds are a product that hears only you, even when you're speaking at your quietest, that pairs with a complete voice experience for iOS and Mac that lets you run your day with voice for dictation, voice notes, and AI chat. You can use even below a whisper."

7. Various of exhibitor demonstrating Voicebuds smart earbuds and transcription of what he says sent to tablet
8. SOUNDBITE (English) Tyler Chen, CEO and co-founder, Subtle Computing:
"It's all about the machine learning, so we take multiple microphone signals from this device, and we process them in such a way that it understands what sounds are coming from this direction versus this direction, versus from the user, sorts all that out and then just isolates the wearer's voice. It's a very, very difficult machine learning problem, but we've got some amazing folks on the team that have been able to put that together."

9. Various of Chen demonstrating Voicebuds by speaking softly while colleagues make noise
10. Various of Chen demonstrating transcribing option with smartphone
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Tyler Chen, CEO and co-founder, Subtle Computing:
"The simplest thing is, hey, if you're in a loud place like this, how the heck are you going to take a phone call, right. So, Voicebuds are the way you do that. It's the best phone call you could possibly take. Secondly, we're seeing a lot more people use voice for dictation, voice for AI chat, things like that. And really, again, if we're going to be using voice to talk to our devices more and more, how are we going to use that without sharing all of our information to the world, right. It's totally not private. But again, with these models, you can speak so softly, nobody else in the room can overhear. And that puts you in a totally different world where this is the world's first private voice interface that you can use throughout your day just with a device that sits in your ear."

12. Close of smartphone showing Voicebuds technology, isolating Chen’s voice in noisy environment
13. Close of Chen holding Voicebuds smart earbud
STORYLINE:
LEADIN:

Taking a phone call or dictating a message in a crowded space can be difficult without raising your voice or being overheard.

A San Francisco based startup, Subtle Computing, says its new Voicebuds earbuds use artificial intelligence to pick up speech even below a whisper, allowing users to communicate privately in noisy environments.

STORYLINE:

Las Vegas tech show CES is a busy place, luckily San Francisco-based Subtle Computing has created smart earbuds that use AI to hear even in a whisper in noisy environments.

Voicebuds provide dictation, calls, voice notes and AI chat that work even below a whisper.

The device combines a low-volume voice interface with real-time AI software into a familiar earbud design.

It works by using a multi‑microphone array, custom firmware, and Subtle's low‑volume ML models to isolate the wearer's voice.





Subtle’s co-founder and CEO Tyler Chen says the device can be used to make calls in noisy environments or as a private way to share sensitive information.







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