You have probably experienced this: you’re sitting at home, on the metro or at the airport enjoying the music with your headphones, and you don’t hear the doorbell or notice that someone wants to talk with you. Nowadays there’s a solution for every problem, and this is no exception. The SoundBrake, which is up and running as a Kickstarter project, is a little gadget that connects between your smartphone or tablet and your headphone plug.
 
The idea behind SoundBrake is actually very simple, but the trick is to have the idea. So what does it do? It measures the ambient sound level with a built-in microphone. If the sound level rises above a user-set threshold, the audio signal to the headphones is temporarily stopped. The electronics in the enclosure is powered by a built-in lithium-ion battery, which can be charged through a micro USB connector.
 
The SoundBrake project at Kickstarter still has a couple of weeks to go, but the goal has already been exceeded. Start of production is planned for early 2016, and the gadget should be available in April 2016.