Skip to main content

Soundshield is a snowboard helmet with integrated headphones and mic

Over the years, we’ve seen a number of helmets designed to allow action sports athletes to wirelessly listen to their favorite music while skiing, snowboarding, or skating. Most of those options looked promising on paper, but in reality they often came with a few compromises, including a clunky interface for controlling your tunes, or the inability to continue listening after you’ve taken the helmet off. But a new product called Soundshield looks to change all of that, bringing modular design and simplicity to an audio-enhanced helmet at long last.

The concept behind the Soundshield comes from a company called Unit 1, which recently launched a crowdfunding campaign to get the product off the ground. At first glance, the Soundshield looks a lot like just about any other helmet you might find a skier or snowboarder wearing, but look a bit closer and you’ll find some interesting features integrated into its design.

Related Videos

For instance, it comes equipped with a set of built-in headphones that allow the wearer to listen to music, podcasts, or audio books while skiing or skating. But when they’re done, those headphones can be undocked from the helmet itself and worn completely independently. When you’re ready to return to the slopes, just snap them back into place, put on your helmet, and go.

Those same headphones also feature a single button on the side that allows the wearer to control the audio they are listening to. A single tap pauses or plays the current playlist, while double tapping skips a track and triple tapping jumps back to the previous song. A single tap also picks up any incoming phone calls, with a built-in mic allowing users to chat with friends and family without having to take the helmet off.

Users can also use a voice-activated dialing system to place calls of their own. The headphones are equipped with Bluetooth technology for easy pairing with a smartphone, but also include a standard 3.5mm audio jack. Unit 1 says they have a battery life of 16 hours in wireless mode and come with customizable ear pads for improved comfort, too.

SOUNDSHIELD- Helmet and Headphones Combined -- Sneak Peek!

Unit 1 is hoping to raise $50,000 to get the Soundshield into production, and as of this writing it is about halfway to that goal. If successful in its crowdfunding efforts, the helmet/headphone combo should go into production late in 2017 and begin shipping by December. The retail price for the device is expected to be $299, but early-bird supporters can actually order them now for as little as $169.

Editors' Recommendations

Meta wants you to use its creepy Portal as a secondary monitor
A woman is standing at a table and using a laptop with a Meta Portal display next to it

Do you remember when Facebook gave us the creepy Portal displays? These were screens with built-in cameras so we could ostensibly talk to loved ones. Well, Meta (the company formerly known as Facebook) now hopes you'll use a Portal device as a second monitor.

Meta has revealed that its Portal devices, which include the 2nd-generation Meta Portal Plus and the Meta Portal Go, can be used as a second display for productivity thanks to integration with the Duet Display app. So now even your monitor can spy on you, in case your smartphone and smart TV weren't enough.

Read more
Dell could be working on the same charging tech Apple has been developing
A Dell XPS 13 Plus viewed from the side.

Dell is working on a wireless phone charger for your laptop and it is similar to technology Apple has been working on for years. The patent was discovered by Patently Apple and first reported by TechRadar.

Dell's technology works like this: a small wireless charging clip can be placed in unused space in the laptop, either on the palm rest or on the lid. You can then place your phone or wearables with wireless charging on top, and the laptop will charge it.

Read more
This throwback mini computer puts a Windows 11 PC in your pocket
The Higole mini PC in someone's pocket.

If you are bored with thin black rectangular smartphones and clamshell laptops, then the Higole PC should tweak your interest. It's a pocket PC. You read that right. The Gole Higole PC 2022 is an entire desktop PC and it fits in your pocket.

Microsoft attempted the pocket PC back in the Windows XP era and it failed miserably. Of course, that was long before everyone on the planet carried a smartphone. But Microsoft never tried again. Chinese company Gole, based in Shenzhen, is taking a swing at it in 2022.

Read more