Like other motorcycle helmets, the Sena Smart Helmet is designed to protect your noggin during motorcycle rides, cushioning it from impact during riding mishaps. Unlike them, it comes with selective noise-canceling technology, filtering out unnecessary sounds while retaining those that you actually need to hear.
You know the noise the wind makes while whizzing past as you speed on a Ducati along the highway? Gone. How about the sound of traffic, oncoming vehicles, and a truck bellowing its horn behind you? Still there, but the helmet will lower it to more tolerable levels, so you can still have full auditory function in traffic, without the potential hearing loss that comes with it.
Billed as a “noise control helmet,” the Sena Smart Helmet comes with integrated ear phones that allow it to filter what sounds are able to come through. It uses four networked microphones to pick up ambient sound, then adjusts the input in real time to phase out any identified harmful noise. Everything happens right on the helmet, too, so there’s no delay, with integrated Bluetooth, in case you want to answer a phone call or listen to music without taking the helmet off (you can still hear the ambient sounds while pairing over Bluetooth, by the way). You can disengage the noise canceling by simply pushing the button for “ambient mode,” which allows all the noise picked up by the mics to reach you unfiltered.
The helmet itself is a full-face model, with a carbon fiber shell, an EPS foam interior with multi-zoned placement, variable ventilation, and removable headliner/cheek pads both made from a quick-dry fabric. It comes in five colors.
The Sena Smart Helmet is listed as coming soon.