Key takeaways 

• Open-ear audio is used in AI glasses to deliver sound without blocking the ears
• Air conduction directs the sound precisely into the ear canal from 20mm away
• AI glasses use this technique to reduce sound leakage to those around you
• Open-ear audio can help you stay safe and maintain ear health

What does the Open-Ear Audio used in AI glasses actually mean?

Open-ear audio in AI glasses allows you to listen to music, podcasts or have conversations for phonecalls or meetings without earbuds.

There are two ways to do this: air conduction, which works by manipulating the air to direct sound right into your ears, or bone conduction, where the sound is transmitted to your ears through your skull.

In modern AI glasses, air conduction (sometimes referred to as spatialized sound) is used. This is where two small audio drivers located in the arms of the spectacles project the sound exactly where it needs to go - allowing you to hear everything without blocking your ears, while keeping sound leakage to a minimum for those around you.

But how does it actually work? Well, it’s the result of some clever engineering, designed to offset the fact that the ear isn’t enclosed in sound. Within each arm sits an incredibly small driver that’s placed just 15-30 millimeters away from the ear canal.

With normal speakers, the sound radiates 180 degrees from the source, which would mean a terrible listening experience for the user and creates sound leakage for those around you.

The directional air conduction creates little pressure waves inside a chamber inside the speaker, pushing the sound waves through specifically-designed ports that aim directly at the parts of the ear that absorb sound.

By keeping the distance between the speaker and the ear so low, the open-ear headphones can create strong sound waves without requiring vast amounts of power, which would result in battery drain.

But how do smart AI glasses solve the issue of sound leakage? By using something called acoustic dipole cancellation.

When the speaker creates air pressure to push out the sound wave, a negative pressure wave is created at the rear. Engineers push this negative wave, which cancels out the sound, through a second vent on the AI glasses. Even though that secondary wave will also hit the ear, here’s the clever bit: the sound wave containing the music or voice you want to hear will land in the ear canal much sooner than the secondary, cancelling wave, and at a much stronger amplitude, meaning you can still hear music cleanly and crisply.

But for someone standing nearby, by the time the sound waves have reached their ears, the two waves will land at almost the same time, meaning the sound wave is cancelled out and any sound leakage dramatically reduced.

NTT tested this kind of speaker technology, and found that music played at 80 dB dropped to just 43 dB at 15 centimeters away, which is more than enough to solve the problem of being able to listen-in to private conversations.

How VIVE Eagle balances sound quality with optimum performance

To create the high-quality directional sound from the VIVE Eagle, engineers combined open-ear speakers with enhanced microphones, structural engineering and the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 Processor. 

This enables AI glasses to deliver crisp audio for music and voice, the ability to process 96 languages in real time, and let the user have clear audio conversations with VIVE AI, Google Gemini or OpenAI GPT.

The mid-range frequencies - 250 Hz up to 4k Hz, which is a critical space for being able to hear voice effectively in phone or AI chats - are boosted for optimum vocal performance. 

Bass is created virtually, using clever algorithms to create the sensation of deep frequencies without requiring the power that would cause the battery to drop rapidly.

Features explained:

VIVE Eagle specifications Technical effect

Speaker configuration 2x stereo bass-enhanced open-ear speakers Direct sound straight into your ear canal while cancelling noise leakage

Microphone 4x microphones: 1x directional, 3x omnidirectional Allows for voice pickup for calls and listening for wake word

Processor Qualcomm Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 Handles real-time sound processing, creates virtual bass and processes AI conversations

Battery 235mAh; 4.5h music, 3+h calls, 36+h standby Efficient speaker technology maximizes sound while keeping power consumption down

Charging Magnetic fast-charging (1–50% in 10 mins) Quickly get enough power to use VIVE Eagle on phone conversations or a long workout

AI integration VIVE AI, Google Gemini / OpenAI GPT Translates 96 languages and gives clear audio feedback for any questions posed by the user

Why don’t Smart AI glasses use earbuds?

AI glasses don’t use earbuds because of the extra hardware needed on the spectacle arms, as well as not allowing users to be fully safe in their surroundings. This allows people to reduce the amount of technology they’re carrying and using.

While most people will be used to using earbuds to stream audio from their smartphone, they have a number of drawbacks compared to open-ear audio variants.

Earbuds are less useful for AI glasses because:

• They limit your audio awareness of your surroundings, which can lead to dangerous actions through a lack of awareness
• By sealing in your ear canal, body vibrations (such as walking or chewing) become audible
• They can push earwax back into the ear canal, or create skin irritation from the earbud’s physical material in contact

There’s also the visual aspect - earbuds attached to the arms of smart glasses add a lot of bulk (see the Oakley O Rokr Pro from 2007 for a good example…)

In comparison, the open-ear technology used in AI glasses like VIVE Eagle helps maintain a sleek design and keep the device lightweight.

Personal safety and awareness

Any headphones inserted into your ear canal can reduce the user’s contextual awareness of their surroundings, meaning they can miss things like oncoming vehicles, alarms or cyclists - which is a problem if living in an urban environment.

Research from the University of Maryland School of Medicine and the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore found that over a six year period, serious injuries to pedestrians wearing headphones more than tripled, highlighting the importance of being able to hear what’s going on around you. The study highlights the importance of paying attention to your surroundings; it does not show that open-ear audio devices directly prevent injuries.

Even if you have microphones in the earbuds that allow the sound through, by using open-ear audio your ears are unencumbered and let your brain process the signals in real time and more accurately.

Being more present in the world 

As open-ear audio keep your ear canals unobstructed, even while listening to music or listening to podcasts, users are more connected to their surroundings. 

One study from Kongju National University found that nature sounds helped reduce stress, bringing the heart rate of subjects down by two beats per minute more than those exposed to urban environments following stressful situations.

Having unencumbered ears allows you to pick up on social cues and be more present in conversations. 

Ear health and hygiene 

The World Health Organization recommends limiting your exposure to higher levels of sound. For instance, it suggests you can listen to sounds at 80 dB for 40 hours per week, but if that rises to 90 dB, that exposure limit drops to just four hours.

The same organization estimates that over a billion people are at risk of damaging their ears through exposure to high levels of noise - open-ear headphones don’t target all the sound directly into your canal.

By keeping the ear open, the canal is allowed to dry more naturally and moisture and / or wax isn’t caught in a sensitive area, which can lead to conditions such as swimmer’s ear.

While good noise cancelling earbuds can be good for ear health, due to the ability to remove background noise and allow music to be audible at lower volumes, it can be easy to push the volume up when wearing earbuds, which can contribute to hearing loss over time. 

Whichever audio device you choose, keep the volume at a comfortable level and take breaks during extended listening.

Bone Conduction vs Open-Ear Speakers: What's the Real Difference?

Bone conduction and directional air conduction headphones are often grouped together under the banner of open-ear headphones, but they’re very different technologies.

Bone conduction bypasses your ear canal entirely. Instead audio signals are turned into vibrations that are passed through the bones in your head to reach the cochlea, where sound is picked up and passed to the brain.

It allows the ear canal to stay open, but has two key drawbacks for use in smart AI glasses. Firstly, bone-conducting headphones naturally muffle sound, which can make it harder for voices to be heard crisply.

Secondly, they require force to be pressed against your head to properly transmit the sound - this would be harder to achieve comfortably for AI glasses you want to wear all day. 

What Spatial Sound Actually Sounds Like in Practice 

• Our tester found open-ear audio bright and comfortable to listen to
• They enjoyed how low the volume could be, yet everything could still be heard
• They particularly enjoyed being able to hold a conversation without needing to touch a phone
• They experienced some light sound leakage, but recommended lowering the volume to compensate

To give a deep insight to anyone that’s not experienced open-ear audio in AI glasses, we asked someone to try the VIVE Eagle for a week. Our tester has used high-end earbuds and bone-conduction headphones for decades, works in a professional environment and hadn’t used smart glasses before the trial. We asked them to give their experiences of using open-ear audio on the VIVE Eagle.

“When I first picked up the VIVE Eagle, I didn’t expect much from the sound - I didn’t see how it could work well without earbuds. But I was instantly impressed with how much I could hear, even at very low volumes, and how bright and clear the sound was.

“I listened to a variety of music, from deep bass to vocal heavy tracks, and I was really surprised with how much I could hear and the depth of the rhythm too. 

“I found it much easier to take phone calls while working - I was able to fully concentrate on what I was saying and doing thanks to not needing to cradle a device or have my ears full of earbuds.

“I’ve used bone-conducting headphones when working out before, but they needed strong compression to stay on my head - I wouldn’t want that force if I’m wearing the glasses for an extended period of time.

“Bone-conducting headphones also tickle your face whenever listening to songs with heavy bass - I really enjoyed how the VIVE Eagle was able to mimic the sound of bass without making the experience uncomfortable.

“I did notice some sound leakage when the sound was a little higher - if I was having a private phone conversation, I would reduce the volume, or move somewhere more secluded. But I found that just dropping the volume made the sound leak inaudible, even to those near me in a quiet room.

“Overall, the audio on the VIVE Eagle was really clean, clear and impressive - far better than I would have expected on smart AI glasses.”