By Jeff Daum, Ph.D., PPA

While I was at CES 2024 (Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas, Nevada last month I attended the JETRO (Japan External Trade Organization) session.  One of the demonstrations was both at the same time incredibly simple yet producing an almost unbelievable outcome.  It was put on by Sound Fun Corporation of Japan demonstrating the technology behind their new Mirai Speaker.  In essence they developed and patented the AudibleWave™ Technology used in the Mirai that helps produce clear dialog from televisions.  Based on some initial research by a university professor that found elderly individuals could hear music more easily when it was played through an old style gramophone, they spent years perfecting how to curve sound when projected from speakers so that it can be more easily heard and understood.  The demonstration was done using just his unamplified voice either behind a straight piece of plastic sheet or curving the same sheet, so it bowed out in the center towards us.  When he spoke through the straight sheet it was hard to clearly hear him, however, when he curved the sheet, you could easily hear and understand what he was saying.

Here is a similar demonstration from Sound Fun’s website.

This was intriguing to say the least.  So, when their team offered a Mirai Speaker unit to review I jumped at the opportunity.

Here is what the Mirai Speaker looks like as unboxed:

The Mirai Speaker is very well made and finished.  The unit weighs 3 lbs. 10.6 oz/1.6625kg and is 21” W x 6” D (at its widest point) x 3.5”H/542mmW x 160mmD x 87mmH.  It was designed and developed in Japan and manufactured in Vietnam.  It retails for US$299.  The unit is well packaged and comes with everything you need to set it up and start using it including a remote with two AA batteries, two means of connecting it to the sound source: Optical cable or analog audio cable, AC power supply and instruction pamphlet.

It is primarily intended to be connected to a television using either the optical output or analog output connection.  In addition, the unit needs to have its small power adapter plugged into an AC outlet.  If you use the optical outlet, you have two ways you can listen to the television.  You can use just the Mirai Speaker system or use a balance between the television and the Mirai Speaker. If you use the analog outlet, you cannot use both simultaneously.

Initial Impressions

The setup was straight forward and easy.  Even though the instruction pamphlet states it may take a few days to notice a real difference when using the Mirai Speaker, the effect of their AudibleWave™ Technology was immediately apparent in doing comparisons of just television speakers versus just the Mirai Speaker.  It wasn’t louder but was a cleaner, clearer sound with respect to any dialog.  It will take some time to refine the balance between the regular speakers and the Mirai Speaker for the best overall sound for example, in watching a movie. 

So, in a word does it work? Yes.  I believe this would be a nice reasonably priced addition, when you have one or more individuals in your home with some hearing loss normally associated with aging. I plan on doing more testing and also trying it incorporated into a full surround sound system set up.  Stay tuned!