Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

Mutalk is a strange VR microphone that aims to prevent sound leaks

Tired of your VR microphone picking up audio other than your voice? Mutalk is a new VR audio solution built to prevent sound leaks — and it looks a little bizarre in practice.

The product comes from Shiftall, which has had a busy CES 2022. The tech company is expanding its presence in the metaverse with a suite of innovative products built in collaboration with Panasonic. The Mutalk is part of a product line that includes the MeganeX VR headset and the odd Pebble Feel “personal air conditioner.”

A VR user wears the Mutalk microphone.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Mutalk is a Bluetooth microphone that can be used with VR. Rather than looking like your average mic, it more closely resembles a VR headset itself. It’s a white box that can be attached to a player’s face via a wrap-around strap. It looks a bit like a horse feedbag when worn.

The idea is that the microphone can reduce sound leakage for VR users. That means that ambient noise won’t be picked up, so a player’s voice can come in cleaner. Shiftall also implies that it can muffle the user’s voice so that other people in their house can’t hear them loudly talking in VR. The Mutalk can last at least 10 hours on a charge.

While it’s built with VR and the metaverse in mind, the microphone can be used in any context. Those who want to use it in a Zoom meeting can simply hold it to their face instead of strapping it on. It only requires a basic Windows, iOS, or Android connection.

The Mutalk is expected to launch sometime this summer and retail for around $200.

Editors' Recommendations

Giovanni Colantonio
Giovanni is a writer and video producer focusing on happenings in the video game industry. He has contributed stories to…
Forget waiting! Here’s all the CES 2022 tech you can buy right now
HP Omen 45L with the front panel removed.

CES is chock-full of new product announcements every year, but unfortunately, most of them are just that: Announcements. Tech companies come out, loudly proclaim that their latest gadget will transform your life, and then quietly mutter that it won't actually be available until some yet-t0-be-determined point in the next year. As such, most of what we see at CES in a given year ends up being annoyingly unattainable.

But thankfully, not everyone at CES shows up with a booth full of flashy promises. A rare few of them come to the show with products that are ready to ship right away, immediately after they're revealed. So as a tip of our hat to those thoughtful few who go the extra mile to provide us the instant gratification we crave, we've rounded up all the best CES gear that you can buy right now. Everything on this list will ship before the end of January, if not sooner. Enjoy!
TCL's gargantuan, 95-inch 4K QLED TV

Read more
Keymander Nexus is a handy KVM switch for all your gaming devices
The Keymander Nexus gaming VKM switch sits on a white background.

Iogear unveiled a new line of gaming products at CES 2022, including its Keymander Nexus Gaming KVM. The device allows players to connect consoles and PCs to one box so they can share a monitor, keyboard, and mouse.

Scheduled to release sometime this spring, the Keymander Nexus is compatible with all current consoles, including the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch. When a monitor and controls are plugged in, players can quickly toggle between devices with the press of a button. Theoretically, this would give players an easy way to use mouse and keyboard on console games without plugging and unplugging accessories when switching systems.

Read more
 This all-in-one smart door boasts built-in Ring and Yale gadgets
masonite, smart door, ring , yale

Plenty of us think about our home's front door in terms of components, adding doorbells, peepholes, lighting, smart locks and the like, but rarely do we consider the door itself as a smart entity. Now, Masonite International is thinking about front doors in exactly that way, announcing today at CES 2022 that it’s making the first smart door for home use and partnering with two of the biggest names in smart entry tech to do it: Ring and Yale.

The cryptically named Masonite M-PwrTM Smart Doors are the first residential exterior doors to integrate power, LED lights, a Ring Video Doorbell, and a Yale smart lock into the door system, according to news released from the company. The fully integrated Ring Video Doorbells and Yale smart locks do not require individual device batteries, a significant change from the aftermarket consumer models most of us buy today.

Read more