Rocking out to music during your favorite outdoor sport that involves a helmet can often give you inspirational vibes. Voila, you are awesome — even if reality says otherwise. Less awesome, though, are the wires dangling from your helmet. As streamlined as some earbuds can be, being tethered can be a nuisance. There are wireless solutions, but there is no guarantee that they will stay in your ears. Plus, the wind noise between the earbud and your eye can generate a distracting whistle.
One company thinks it might have the answer. Enter Elevety and the Domio, which is essentially a sound system for only you that is smaller than a hockey puck, that is debuting at the SnowSports Industries America show in Denver this week. Using micro-vibration technology, the Domio can only be heard inside your helmet while also allowing you to hear surrounding sounds. It allows for not only streaming music, but also navigation, making calls, and sending hands-free texts (using the built-in WhisperMic) that still lets you hear the world without disturbing others.
How does it work?
“Traditionally, sound passes through air,” says Elevety co-founder and co-CEO Bart Lipski. “With micro-vibration technology, sound can pass through solids. The idea for this tech originally came for audiology, and is used by people suffering from hearing loss.”
Lipski continues, “We’ve taken the heart of this tech and adapted it to work with helmets, enabling sound to be passed into and through the helmet shell using tiny vibrations. We can this Vibro-Audio, and it allows for a completely unique and breathtaking listening experience for anyone wearing a helmet.”
Setting up the Domio should be easy. First, connect the Domio with your phone using the calibration app. Next, place the mount that sticks onto the outside of a helmet using the waterproof adhesive, where the Domio slides into place.
Safety concerns
Helmets are designed and tested without consideration of the accessories that we love to attach to them, which leads to a concern about safety and how the Domio will perform in a collision.
“Elevety takes this very seriously,” says Elevety co-founder Sebastian Koper. ”Domio has an easy release design so as not to snag or exacerbate injury. Tapping a tree branch while skiing, snowboarding or mountain biking won’t dislodge a Domio from the helmet, but a hard collision with a tree, that otherwise would knock the user off their feet, would. However, there are no official standards this can be tested against.”
The Domio will be available for purchase this summer.
