What you need to know
- An audio startup company has announced the arrival of what they claim to be the world’s first headphones that let you hear and feel the music.
- The Sonic Lamb headphones combine air and body conduction to deliver bass to your skin and bones as well as transmit audio as soundwaves to your ears.
- These headphones are currently available on Indiegogo for $199, with shipping expected in February 2023.
An ideal audio experience requires a mix of multiple audio drivers dedicated for each audio spectrum and a sub-woofer unit for low frequencies, but most headphones are limited to just a single audio driver. An audio startup known as Sonic Lamb is trying to address that limitation.
Sonic Lamb claims to have created the first-of-their-kind headphones, which combine a regular audio driver to reproduce mid and high frequencies that are transmitted to the ears as sound waves, and a proprietary driver that combines air and body conduction to make you literally feel the music as well as hear it.
According to the company, the patented Hybrid driver acoustics system converts audio signals into mechanical impulses. As a result, the earpads of the headphones become a virtual diaphragm, transferring the mechanical impulse from the earpads to your skin and bones, giving you the sensation of feeling what you’re listening to.
Sonic Lamb explains that human ears are particularly less sensitive to low frequencies. Instead, they tend to feel the sub-bass and bass frequencies like the “experience of thunder, the thump from drums, and rumbles in movie theatres and concerts,” among others, more than they hear them.
Immersive audio experiences are only possible in certain settings, such as concerts, cinemas, or home theaters. Sonic Lamb attempts to recreate this experience by emulating a subwoofer unit inside its headphones, a feature that is not common in many of the best wireless headphones money can buy.
The Sonic Lamb headphones have Bluetooth 5.1 for multiple device connections and a wireless range of up to 15 meters. A control dial allows you to switch between four modes: Hear, Feel, Immerse, and Beast. These modes can be customized based on music genre, preference, and use-case.
The company also claims that its 1400mAh battery can last up to 24 hours in Hear Mode at maximum volume and six hours in Beast Mode at maximum volume.
If you want to get your hands on the headphones, the pair is currently available on Indiegogo (opens in new tab) until December 14 for an introductory price of $199/£173. Shipping is scheduled for February 2023, with wider availability via major online platforms beginning in September of next year.
