[dfc]

"What good is a directional microphone and why would a headphone distinguish between voices and background noise?"

Lacking any context there is no way to answer your question. Tools do not have any intrinsic value, a tool's value is derived from its application to a problem.

It seems as if you are approaching headsets purely as a means of music reproduction. There are many applications of headsets where audio fidelity is not the only/primary concern. The reference to augmented reality in the first paragraph seems to imply that the author is concerned with more than just how crisp Jerry's guitar sounds at the beginning of Fire on the Mountain. Don't get me wrong I love crispy guitar solos but they are not the end all be all of headsets.

For a really neat and demanding headset application take a look at the C4OPS headset system by Silynx[1]. The C4OPS and others like it are headset systems for combat communications. There are a lot of sounds in combat; some of the loud ones (gunshots/explosions) you would like to hear at a lower volume / with less fidelity and some quiet noises (teammate whisper/footsteps behind you) you would like to be more aware of.

[1] http://sofrep.com/4246/act-of-valor-radio-comms-2/

[morsch]

The article (which I quoted and which serves as the context for my post) refers the the state of headphone tech, not headset tech. He only ever talks about headphones, and the brief introductory reference to another blog entry about AR seemed fairly beside the point and the theme isn't picked up again.

I guess he might have been talking about headsets, although once again I'm not sure the tech is in need of an innovation boost from the hearing aide industry, it seems to progress just fine, even outside the realm of speciality gear for more efficiently killing people.

[dfc]

"even outside the realm of speciality gear for more efficiently killing people."

FYI, this discussion is made possible because of DARPAnet and other innovation boosts drawn from the realm of "more efficently killing people". So handwaving/ignoring tech.mil seems a little short sighted at the very least. But let's return to:

"What good is a directional microphone and why (and lacking a microphone, how?) would a headphone distinguish between voices and background noise?"

How about headphones for factory workers? Construction workers? Soccer moms/dads who want to listen to a book on tape while little johnny and 25 other 5 year olds clamber up and down and all over metal playground equipment? Scientists on safari in africa or bird watching in the amazon? News camera man operating in a nousy environment that needs to hear what the reporter is saying while monitoring the police-band/other coverage/updates from main news desk?

That's five examples that I can think of off the top of my head. But its not clear what field you are restricting the discussion to. That is why I asked what you meant by "what good is"? Without a problem/application it is impossible to identify the value of a technology.

[morsch]

What would the directional microphone do in those circumstances?

[dfc]

When I came up with the list I was considering your initial question about a directional microphone and "why distinguish between voices and background noise?" So some of my examples were not restricted to directional microphones only. Given the new constraints:

Factory workers: Increase awareness about the sounds of the machinery the worker is operating and ignore the sounds of nearby machines. In a more hostile/mobile environment where the worker does not need to be so in tune with their own machine the directional microphone could provide the same benefit as it does with construction workers.

Construction workers: amplify noises from directions where the worker is not looking and therefore increase awareness of threats from blind spots.

Bird watching in the amazon: Isolate/focus scientists hearing in the direction of the bird that they are observing. Thereby reducing the possibility that they attribute sounds/songs from other birds to the bird they are observing.

News camera man: increase ability to hear sounds in front of camera man and/or directions from reporter/crew members while reducing distraction of environmental sounds.

Why are you moving the goal posts?