Thinking beyond audio: Augmenting headphones for everyday digital interactions
This research was accepted by and received a Best Paper Award during ACM Designing Interactive Systems (DIS) 2023, which is dedicated to advancing the field of user-centered system design.
Headphones are traditionally used to provide and manage audio experiences through physical controls and a range of sensors. Nonetheless, these controls and sensors have remained confined to audio input and output functionality, such as adjusting the volume or muting the microphone. Imagine if headphones could transcend their role as mere audio devices.
Because headphones rank among the most popular wearables in the market, we have an exciting opportunity to expand their capabilities through integrating existing sensors with supplementary ones to enable a wide variety of experiences that go beyond traditional audio control.