Testing Audio Performance of Hearables

Smart headphones or "hearables" are designed not only to playback music but to enhance communications in the presence of background noise and even for those who suffer from hearing loss. They may also provide, voice recognition, medical monitoring, fitness tracking, real-time translation and even augmented reality (AR). As a result, they have complex signal processing and their characteristics change according to their smartphone application and 'real world' conditions of their actual environment, including background noises and playback levels. This paper focuses on how to measure their audio performance under the many various real-world conditions they are used in.