AR headset

A consumer electronics product that gives instant feedback about what the wearer is seeing using augmented reality.

For example, if you tour a foreign country, you can put on an AR headset to view information about the historic sites you visit. Names and histories appear on the lens of the headset. It works with a visual-data display (like those projected inside the helmets of fighter pilots). By way of these tiny displays embedded within the glass lenses, images are sent from a handheld computer, for instance, by means of a radio frequency or short-range wireless networking protocol (like Bluetooth).

The difference between AR (augmented reality) and VR (virtual reality) is with virtual reality, you can swim with sharks; with augmented reality, you can watch a shark pop out of your business card.

Historical perspective: The notion was first popularized in William Gibson's 1994 cyberpunk novel, Virtual Light, in which a bicycle messenger finds a pair of AR goggles and stumbles upon a devious plot in San Francisco.

In 2019 Bose, known for its audio equipment, combined headphones and sunglasses and included a few smart features to create "audio-augmented realty platform" sunglasses according to The Week. You can stream music, take phone calls, and connect to virtual assistants, all without earbuds. The Bose speakers, embedded in each temple direct audio into your ears and the microphone and multi-function button are on the right side. A head-motion sensor allows you to track your location and what direction you're going. The rechargeable battery lasts 3.5 hours when you listen to audio continually. They're scratch- and shatterproof and block 99% of UVA and UVB rays.