For those of us who are frustrated by how our neighbors do not think about our own well being when it comes to keeping the place quiet (especially folks who live in apartments), there are only some limited options we have if we want to preserve the relationship and friendship. How about moments at the office where you would prefer to have your colleagues shut their gab as you’re doing your level best to concentrate on an important piece of work at that moment? Well, the solution could come in the form of this new iPhone application that is touted to offer instant relief by converting annoying noise into soothing sound. Sounds pretty good (pun not intended), perhaps someone can think of a new application that converts bad debts into a money churning enterprise?

The iPhone application in question here is the SoundCurtain which is the brainchild of Royal College of Art graduate and founder of FutureAcoustic Andreas Raptopoulos. This young designer received his inspiration when he first moved to London – no doubt one of the world’s noisiest cities. Instead of fighting against the noise by blocking out outside noise, this high tech application intends to replace it with something environmentally kinder – a highly effective sound barrier. After all, over 50% of the world’s population currently reside in cities, hence making personal space a premium. Regardless of where we are, most of us live with noise, be it at our homes, in workplaces, in public spaces. Andreas realized that we could fully design and control our physical environments, although we fail at effective sound control.

The a3 technology is able to ‘listens to’ outside noise using the microphone on the iPhone headset, while transforming it into relaxing ambient sound. According to Raptopoulos, “SoundCurtain doesn’t block out outside noise, as much as replace it with something environmentally kinder. Imagine the sound of the sea, always fluctuating. At first you listen to it, then it just fades into the background.” I suspect this will be one hit iPhone application when it is released.

Press Release