SILENT REVOLUTION THROUGH ACTIVE NOISE-CANCELING TECHNOLOGY

In today’s day and age, it’s difficult to find complete silence. Noise is everywhere, from the traffic outside your window to the vents and kitchen appliances humming inside. Most of the time, we’re unaware of it, which means we’re also unaware of the dangers. The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified noise as the second most important cause of ill health in Western Europe. With Novio Sound, David Bradford and Arno Baltussen want to create a silent revolution.

 Novio Sound developed an advanced active noise-canceling technology platform technology. The first application will be in ventilation systems. After all, noise is all around us, and it has become worse in modern-day society. Think of 24/7 connectivity, entertainment, and city noise. We tend to block aggravating sounds with more noise by turning up the volume of our headphones. That’s how David himself ended up with tinnitus. “I used to be on long-haul flights of over ten hours. To block out the engine's roar, I’d blast music through my earbuds, not realizing what it would do with my hearing,” explains David. And there are more repercussions that people rarely think about. “Too much noise exposure can lead to stress-related heart diseases and strokes and causes 12,000 premature deaths in Europe. It is also associated with negative cognitive and behavioral outcomes in children. So, it’s definitely a problem worth solving. We truly believe that our technology can save lives.”

30 times noise reduction

The original idea was to solve the noise in MRI scanners using local technology. This idea has made quite the journey from there to the active noise control technology developed by Novio Sound. Because if noise is everywhere, so are applications of this technology. As there were still ‘ifs-and-buts’ when it came to noise-canceling for MRI scanners and in-ear devices, David and Arno decided to pursue the vents market. Arno: “Nowadays, we need proper ventilation in our buildings. The COVID-19 pandemic taught us the importance of fresh air. However, these ventilation systems also produce a lot of noise in central plants with big fans. Our technology goes inside the ventilation duct and reduces the noise by nearly thirty times. What sets us apart from existing technologies is that ours takes up 90% of the space and is much better at filtering out low frequencies.” 

Slow but steady

Deep tech innovations like these take time to develop. To boost development, Novio Sound received the TOP loan in 2017 and got its first patent that year. “The TOP loan got us going,” says David. “It really helped us because developing such technologies takes much longer than people realize.” In 2022, they were ready for another boost, so they entered the imec.istart.nl program. David: “That enabled us to get the concept working. We probably didn’t use the program as intended, but it was essential for us to reach the technology readiness level (TRL) 3. That was what we needed. Additionally, access to support from business developers like Peter Langela gave us new opportunities and ideas.”

The quiet company

The fact that deep tech can be difficult and complex isn’t stopping David and Arno. “Noise kills, and we want to kill noise,” says Arno. “We want to be known as the quiet company. That means that we do more than noise-canceling for vents.” David adds to that: “The ultimate goal would be to move into health care and make in-ear devices. There are so many applications for our technology. Eventually, we could ‘airbrush’ sound, so to speak. Imagine for example, when you’re on the train, you want to block the noise but still hear all the announcements with an open-ear device. A personalized hearing experience is our ideal picture for the future."