[MWC 2017] A lot of headphone manufacturers typically pride themselves on how much outside noise their headphones can block. This is important because cancelling outside noise means that users can hear their music better, which does help to improve the overall listening experience.
However Sony seems to be going the opposite direction. At MWC 2017, the company unveiled the Xperia Ear Open Style Concept headphones. Unlike normal headphones, one of the goals of these headphones is to allow outside/background noise in. The idea is that it can be used for day-to-day tasks such as interfacing with voice assistant platforms, or it could be useful for those who exercise outdoors and wouldn’t mind having some outside noise leak in so that they can listen out to traffic or if someone calls out to them.
However at the moment the headphones exist as a prototype, with Sony waiting to see how the media and the internet reacts to them presumably before deciding or not to commit to manufacturing these devices. It’s an interesting concept and as we mentioned above, there are scenarios in which you will probably have a use for them, but if you wanted something that is strictly music-only, then maybe these headphones might not necessarily be for you.