Scientists have developed wireless earbuds that use AI for background noise cancellation in real time, an advance that may find a range of applications, including in smart-home speakers and tracking robots. The earbuds, named "ClearBuds", were described in a presentation at the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) International Conference on Mobile Systems, Applications, and Services last month. Researchers from the University of Washington in the US used a novel microphone system and one of the first AI systems of the kind to operate in real-time and run on a smartphone to enhance the speaker's voice and reduce background noise. "ClearBuds differentiate themselves from other wireless earbuds in two key ways," study co-lead author Maruchi Kim, a doctoral student in the Paul G Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering, said. First, he explained that the novel earbuds use a dual microphone array – one in which each earbud creates two synchronised audio streams that provide information and allow spatial separation of sounds coming from different directions with higher resolution.

Avaya today revealed a set of enhancements for its Spaces team collaboration and meeting application that are in part based on the partnership with GPU vendor Nvidia announced last October around the use of that company's cloud-based AI services. Presenter mode -- Using video AI capabilities, presenters can now overlay video on top of slideshows and other content they're sharing, Avaya said in a press release. Noise reduction -- Provides the ability to reduce background noises like dogs barking and loud keyboard typing. Enhanced calling -- Users can now make outbound calls from within Spaces. Additionally, users within Spaces can search and merge contacts from multiple devices, and they can transfer, merge, and manage multiple concurrent calls simultaneously, Avaya said.