Overview
- Škoda worked with University of Salford audiologists to test leading noise‑cancelling headphones and build the DuoBell prototype.
- The team reports a less‑suppressed 750–780 Hz range in many ANC systems, which the bell’s low‑tone resonator hits to slip past cancellation.
- A second resonator produces rapid, irregular strikes so headphone algorithms have less time to generate an inverted signal that mutes the alert.
- In virtual‑reality trials, participants detected the bell about 22 meters earlier, giving roughly five seconds more time to step clear of a bike.
- Škoda is not selling the device yet, says it has shared its research, and is working with partners to fit more units to bikes in London.