A Tech Talk with

David Holmes

After his recent My Audio World interview, the amazing David Holmes caught up with Flare Co-Founder and Inventor, Davies Roberts for a private chat about Flare’s latest products. Here it is if you want a behind the scenes nose at the tech stuff!


Davies: This is a 3D printed large earphone of what you've got. Most people are creating sound that’s resonating sound like musical instruments. I recognised that if I wanted to create higher sound quality, if I want to be able to create mirror image sound, then I need to start to think at a particle level.So I thought experiment particles, how they vibrate, how they interact with each other, and this enabled me to start to predict what we need to do in order to get sound quality higher.

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David: Can I make an observation? It sounds exactly the same as a digital SLR camera. Like, you bounce one light off one mirror after another, it lifts up, and you're able to get a clearer image. That's why you're allowed high pixelation for a digital SLR.

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Davies: Yes, that's exactly right, exactly the same. Also exactly the same as a periscope. When you look at the periscope and you reflect light, the drivers here. And what it means is if you're a particle that's here, or if you're here, as you get pushed and pulled by the driver, you reflect and you stay next to each other because the path length is exactly the same for this particle as it is for that particle. So it means when I look through it, you can see a perfect mirror image.

David: That’s amazing. I mean, you can really tel the depth of sound that you get from them. Now I am blessed in my life, a very fortunate man. I have really good quality speakers; I've got some Bang and Olufsen's upstairs. I've actually been to Abbey Road a couple of times as well, sitting in the studio when they've done orchestral layerings for films. And just understanding the importance of good quality sound, nothing annoys me more than playing good music out of crap speakers, I'd rather not listen to music. And in a society where we are constantly bombarded by white noise and noise pollution, for some people on a neurodivergent scale, it's very overwhelming. Your products (like Calmer) do amazing things taking the edge off of that.

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Davies: Calmer, like you just mentioned, have been life-changing for people. We've seen an article by the WHO in 2018 that said noise is the second biggest killer after air pollution. So, people on the neurodivergent scale and many people with misophonia, they're the sensitive ones to sound. But actually, everybody has this problem with our ears. We all have this stress-inducing response towards sound, and to find out it's the second biggest killer after air pollution, it's a shock.

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David: It's intense. It's funny because when you go into care homes, they're not quiet environments. You go into hospitals, you've got the beeps, you've got buzzers, you've got noises that are constant. I lay on my back and stared at a light for nine months, a strip light. And now I have designed this house, there's not a single light bulb ever in my eyeball because
I realised how much of an effect that had on my mind.

I had a CSF leak, which is spinal fluid that wraps around the brain and the ear canal as well, which leaked into the back of my spinal cord. So when my blood pressure drops, I get tinnitus. But sound and light sensitivity for me is a big thing. You'd be amazed what a difference it made just to be able to cut it out.

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Davies: We have a couple of new technologies coming that are really exciting. One is Calmer 2. This new technology and approach tunes your ears like an acoustic instrument. Whereas Calmer has a flat surface, reflecting sound in a calming way, Calmer 2 is literally like a tuning device. Think of a piano or a guitar where you're tuning it to get the sound right. It
flattens your frequency response. So everything sounds clear, but it's like you've walked into a recording studio. It's significantly more calming, like a weighted blanket for your ears.

David

"You're not just providing an amazing soundscape, but you're actually providing something that is probably going to bring a lot of quality to people's lives. Thank you for the earphones, they’re amazing."

Products Mentioned

$149.97 USD$299.95 USD

Our flagship earphone. A proof of concept. E-Prototype earphones are made at our UK headquarters using advanced 3D printing technology. The best sound you've ever heard or your ...

$18.71 USD$24.95 USD

Calmer® is a life-changing product worn in the ear to gently reduce annoying noises. It doesn't block sound or make you feel isolated.

$33.71 USD$44.95 USD

Our latest and most effective in-ear technology for calming our response to stressful noise. Be the first to hear our newest edition to the Calmer family with this exclusive pro...