My latest article for TheFeature is about an audio algorithm that battles cell phone background noise:
My friends seem to spend an inordinate amount of time inside wind tunnels, aboard locomotives, and underwater. At least, that's what it sounds like when they call me from their cell phones. Blame it on the background noise. Unlike calling from home or a telephone booth, we have little control over the noise pollution that surrounds us out there. It's sort of like extra baggage that our voice is forced to carry when it travels across the wireless ether. Now though, researchers at the University of Toronto have developed a novel bit of technology that may someday alleviate us of the audio aggravation.