可以避免行人被汽車撞到的智能耳機

可以避免行人被汽車撞到的智能耳機

Pedestrians could soon be safer thanks to smart headphones able to decipher hundreds of street sounds and signal imminent harm.

行人可能很快會更安全，因為智能耳機能夠識別數(shù)百種街道聲音和迫在眉睫的危險信號。

Scientists are developing the pioneering pods in order to slash the surging number of pedestrian deaths.

科學家們正在開發(fā)這種開創(chuàng)性的耳機，以減少不斷增加的行人死亡人數(shù)。

The amount of people walking the streets with their faces glued to screens while listening to music — also known as “twalking” — is increasing.

越來越多的人一邊走在大街上，一邊聽著音樂(也被稱為“twalking”)，他們的臉粘在屏幕上。

In the last seven years “twalking” deaths have skyrocketed in the US, with pedestrian fatalities reaching a near 30 year high in 2018.

在過去的7年里，美國“騎車族”的死亡人數(shù)激增，2018年行人死亡人數(shù)達到近30年來的最高水平。

A research team is now developing the prototype headphones and testing them on New York’s noisy streets in a bid to reverse the trend.

為了扭轉這一趨勢，一個研究小組正在開發(fā)這款耳機的原型，并在紐約嘈雜的街道上進行測試。

Dr. Fred Jiang, a professor of electrical engineering at Columbia University, said: “We are exploring a new area in developing an inexpensive and low-power technology that creates an audio-alert mechanism for pedestrians.”

哥倫比亞大學電氣工程教授Fred Jiang博士說:“我們正在探索一個新的領域，開發(fā)一種低成本、低功耗的技術，為行人創(chuàng)建一種聲音警報機制。”

The headphones have miniature microphones and intelligent signal processing that detects the sounds of approaching vehicles. If a hazard appears near, the system pings an audio alert to the pedestrian’s headphones to warn them of the threat.

這種耳機配有微型耳機和智能信號處理系統(tǒng)，可以探測到駛近車輛的聲音。如果附近出現(xiàn)危險，系統(tǒng)就會向行人的耳機發(fā)出音頻警報，提醒他們受到威脅。

The scientists, writing in IEEE Internet of Things Journal said the research and development of the smart headphones is complex.

科學家們在IEEE物聯(lián)網雜志上撰文稱，智能耳機的研發(fā)非常復雜。

It involves developing a low-power data “pipeline” to process all the sounds near to the pedestrian.

研發(fā)內容包括開發(fā)一個低功耗數(shù)據“管道”，來處理行人附近的所有聲音。

The pipeline will contain an integrated circuit that identifies relevant sounds and extracts the correct cues to signal impending danger — all while minimizing battery usage.

這條管道將包含一個集成電路，可以識別相關的聲音，并提取正確的線索來提示即將到來的危險——同時最大限度地減少電池的使用。

The researchers are also using the most advanced data science techniques to design the high-tech headset.

研究人員還使用最先進的數(shù)據科學技術來設計高科技耳機。

Machine-learning models on the user’s smartphone will classify hundreds of acoustical cues from city streets and nearby vehicles.

用戶智能手機上的機器學習模型將對城市街道和附近車輛發(fā)出的數(shù)百種聲音信號進行分類。

The researchers, who have won two awards for their prototype, are now testing it both in the lab and on the chaotic streets of New York.

研究人員已經因為他們的模型贏得了兩個獎項，現(xiàn)在他們正在實驗室和紐約混亂的街道上進行測試。