Nothing beats a pair of noise-canceling headphones, whether you’re rocking out or just want to be able to hear your audiobook in a noisy office. You don’t always have to spend a lot for a pair, either, and this Memorial Day deal on Sony WH-CH720N headphones is the perfect example of that. They normally sell for around $150, but Amazon slashed that to just $88 if you choose the black finish. You may not see the discount initially, but the new price will be reflected when you add your new headphones to your cart. This is a limited-time deal, so order soon before you risk missing out on this massive discount.

These headphones don’t have as many features as the more powerful Sony WH-1000XM5 headphones, but they still have a lot going for them, especially at their more affordable price. In addition to good sound quality, these headphones have 30mm drivers and come equipped with Sony’s V1 chip for solid active noise cancellation. These wireless headphones also have an ambient sound mode and robust EQ settings, which you can customize to your taste.

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Another feature these headphones offer is multipoint connectivity, which means you can connect to your computer or phone at the same time. They are a smart option for making voice calls as well. They also come with Alexa built-in, making it much easy to ask for a specific song, control compatible smart home devices and more. As for battery life, you should get up to 35 hours per charge or as much as 50 hours if you have noise cancellation turned off.

In his review, CNET’s David Carnoy noted the Sony WH-CH720N headphones offer «the appealing combination of a lightweight, comfortable design with respectable performance,» which makes this Memorial Day sale perfect for those folks who don’t want to splurge on a premium headset costing upward of $300. For other budget-friendly listening options, check out our roundup of the best headphone and earbud deals.

Why this deal matters

We’re big fans of ANC headphones because they are so handy in a variety of ways. Whether you’re commuting and want to block out the noise or you need to focus in a noisy office, ANC headphones can drown out the din of sound wherever you’re using them. There are plenty of relatively inexpensive headphones with similar features to the Sony WH-CH720N headphones, but very few are from a brand that’s so well-known for the quality of its personal audio gear.

If any dolphins are reading this: Hello! A team of scientists studying a community of Florida dolphins has been awarded the first $100,000 Coller Dolittle Challenge prize, established to award research in interspecies communication algorithms. The team used non-invasive hydrophones to perform the research, which offers evidence that dolphins may be using whistles like words, shared with multiple members of their communities.

A type of whistle dolphins employ is used as an alarm, according to the US-based team led by Laela Sayigh of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Another whistle the team studied is used by dolphins to respond to unexpected or unfamiliar situations. Capturing the sounds is just the beginning. Researchers will use AI to continue deciphering the whistles to try to find more patterns. 

«The main thing stopping us cracking the code of animal communication is a lack of data. Think of the 1 trillion words needed to train a large language model like ChatGPT. We don’t have anything like this for other animals,» said Jonathan Birch, a professor at London School of Economics and Political Science and one of the judges for the prize.

«That’s why we need programs like the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, which has built up an extraordinary library of dolphin whistles over 40 years. The cumulative result of all that work is that Laela Sayigh and her team can now use deep learning to analyze the whistles and perhaps, one day, crack the code,» Brich added.

The award was part of a ceremony that honored the work of four teams from across the world. In addition to the dolphin project, researchers studied ways in which nightingales, marmoset monkeys and cuttlefish communicate. The challenge is a collaboration between the Jeremy Coller Foundation and Tel Aviv University. Submissions for next year open in August.

Dolphin language is just the start

Researching animals and trying to learn the secrets of their communication is nothing new, but AI is speeding up the creation of larger and larger datasets. «Breakthroughs are inevitable,» said Kate Zacarian, CEO and co-founder of Earth Species Project, a California-based nonprofit that also works in breaking down language barriers with the animal world.

«Just as AI has revolutionized the fields of medicine and material science, we see a similar opportunity to bring those advances to the study of animal communication and empower researchers in this space with entirely new capabilities,» she said.

Zacarian applauded Sayigh’s team and their win and said it will help bring broader recognition to the study of non-human animal communication. It could also bring more attention to ways that AI can change the nature of this type of research.
«The AI systems aren’t just faster. They allow for entirely new types of inquiry,» she said. «We’re moving from decoding isolated signals to exploring communication as a rich, dynamic, and structure phenomenon, which is a task that’s simply too big for our human brains, but possible for large-scale AI models.»

The Earth Species Project recently released an open-source large audio language model for analyzing animal sounds known as NatureLM audio. The organization is now working with biologists and ethologists to study species including orcas, carrion crows, jumping spiders and more. It plans to release some of their findings later this year, Zacarian said.