Imagine headphones that let you 'mute' a crying baby or a leaf blower while keeping the rest of the world sounding perfectly clear.
April 2, 2026
Original Paper
Sona: Real-Time Multi-Target Sound Attenuation for Noise Sensitivity
arXiv · 2604.00447
The Takeaway
Standard noise cancellation is all-or-nothing, often leaving users feeling isolated or unaware of their surroundings. This system allows a user to target a specific bothersome sound—like a neighbor's lawnmower—and erase it in real-time while still being able to hear a conversation or an approaching car.
From the abstract
For people with noise sensitivity, everyday soundscapes can be overwhelming. Existing tools such as active noise cancellation reduce discomfort by suppressing the entire acoustic environment, often at the cost of awareness of surrounding people and events. We present Sona, an interactive mobile system for real-time soundscape mediation that selectively attenuates bothersome sounds while preserving desired audio. Sona is built on a target-conditioned neural pipeline that supports simultaneous att