How we tuned six microphones in a car park

Each Quelde One bud carries three microphones: two outside to hear the world, one inside to hear what actually reaches your ear. Getting them to agree is most of the engineering.

Why a car park

Underground car parks have hard walls, long echoes and cold drafts: the worst case for a noise-cancelling algorithm. If it works there, it works on a windy platform.

The mesh you cannot see

The final fix was mechanical. A fine stainless mesh over each outer port breaks up wind before it hits the microphone. It adds 0.1 g per bud and removed most of the rumble our testers complained about.