Phasma — Muzzle for Gamers!

Gaming has always been an immersive experience, allowing players to get lost in fantastical worlds and engage in epic battles. However, there is one aspect that often gets overlooked: the noise. Whether it’s your loud screams of victory or the background noises from your surroundings, gaming can be quite disruptive to those around you. Enter Phasma, a soundproof mask specifically designed for gamers. With its innovative technology and comfortable design, Phasma promises to provide the ultimate gaming experience without disturbing others.

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The big questions about the Phasma are, of course:

• Why would I wear something like this?
• How exactly does it work?
• Does it actually muffle my voice?
• How good is the sound of the microphone?
• How comfortable is it?
• Is it affordable?

I tested the mask, so that I can answer all of these questions!

The Phasma in my face

Phasma began as a project on Kickstarter in 2021. The mask is designed to help gamers who communicate loudly with their teammates, potentially annoying their partners, children, parents, or neighbors. With this mask, they can shout in-game as much as they want, and no one will hear them.

METADOX — Because playing in silence is no fun

The PHASMA! A Soundproof Mask for Gaming | Indiegogo

The PHASMA! A Soundproof Mask for Gaming by Metadox — Kickstarter

I belong to this target group because I play Elite Dangerous with Voice Attack. That is, I give my spaceship commands by voice, and while I play, my wife tries to sleep just 3 meters away. So, I invested in the Phasma and received one of the first copies.

I showed the Phasma to my followers on TikTok last year, and I received thousands of comments like ‘If you play too loud, move to another room,’ ‘Just play quieter,’ or ‘Buy a bigger apartment.’ And of course, these tips are not wrong, but if I don’t have another room, and if my game is only fun with loud talking, and the Phasma is cheaper than a bigger apartment, then it’s a great solution.

Gamers tend to scream at their computer (illustrated by Midjourney)

But how exactly does it work?

The mask is a hard shell with a cushion that fits — more or less — airtight over the mouth and nose. That’s why my voice sounds muffled and quiet — as if my head were stuck in a bucket. The air escapes through gaps near my throat and the bridge of my nose when I speak and exhale, so it’s not completely airtight. Breathing in is very easy through a valve on the bottom that opens when there is negative pressure, which occurs when I inhale. So, I get fresh air through the valve without effort and don’t have to worry about a lack of oxygen or suffocation.

My Phasma videos came out during the Covid pandemic, and of course, there were many comments about this being a Covid mask for gamers with the purpose of conditioning gamers to wear masks at home.

The Phasma has no filter. That is, it does NOT protect against Covid. So please do NOT wear it as a substitute for an FFP2 mask! If you sit next to a Covid patient, you will breathe in everything just as you would without the mask.

A pretty shot with the metadox logo

But the most critical part of the Phasma is the microphone, because the whole point is to talk to your teammates — or your voice application. That’s why the Phasma has this opening here on the side. If you have a headset with a flexible microphone, you can insert it here on the side and close the opening with a magnetic cap. However, I wouldn’t recommend that, because the magnetic cap falls off easily when the mic moves, and headset mics aren’t built to sit in small chambers. It’s better to use the included microphone, which sits independently on the mask and doesn’t fall off as easily.

Inside the mask is a washable inlay that feels like cotton and can absorb moisture that builds up inside when you talk.

Phasma got a soft cushion for touching the skin

The big promise of the mask, of course, is that it muffles my voice. To test that, I’m using a sound meter to provide some numbers for comparison.

My first test is speaking into the mask without the internal microphone being attached. While I was speaking, the sound meter is measuring the sound outside the mask. For comparison, I spoke also without the mask and measured the noise.

With the mask on, you can still hear me. My voice is still somewhat audible but clearly duller and quieter.

A valve for fresh air

In my second test, I spoke louder, even though my neighbors would most certainly hear me. Once again, I measured the loud sound with and without the mask. Even though I was screaming into the mask, I could be understood clearly, but it probably wouldn’t have disturbed my wife sleeping in the next room.

A washable inlay

As a perfectionist, I naturally wanted to see a 0 here and achieve absolute silence, but that is physically hardly possible. For one thing, sound escapes through the gaps where air escapes, and for another, the mask would probably need a thicker cushion, like an insulated PC tower, to break the sound waves. This would make the mask heavier and hotter, and the valve has to stay for breathing.

Using a sound-meter for testing dampening

The most critical feature of the Phasma is the microphone. When I first used the mask in 2021, I tried to be smart and installed my $90 Rode lavalier microphone in the empty chamber. However, that wasn’t really smart because the lavalier mic is designed to pick up sound from all directions, and in the small chamber, my voice was so loud that the sound was completely overdriven and unusable. I had to turn the sensitivity of the microphone down to 1% to be able to understand anything at all, and it still sounded bad.

results of the sound-test

The best result you will get if you use the microphone that comes with the Phasma mask. This mic doesn’t overdrive, and the sound is really not bad! The mic clips perfectly to the magnetic connector of the mask and offers a 3-pole TRS connector. 3-pole means you can plug it into the 3.5mm microphone jack of your PC, Mac, or audio interface.

Next, I tested the internal microphone of Phasma, and I was able to record my voice loud and clear. While it did not match the quality of my podcast microphone, it exceeded all of my expectations.

My Rode lapel mic in the empty mic-chamber

I did cheat with one little thing, though. While I’m not speaking, my breath is rushing through the mask, and of course, that’s an unpleasant background noise that you don’t want to have in your voice chat all the time. Fortunately, there are several ways you can fix this. For example, the manufacturer recommends Krisp for this. Krisp is an AI-powered software that improves your audio quality by filtering out breathing noises, for example. And it works pretty well.

World’s #1 Noise Cancelling App | Krisp

The internal mic

Unfortunately, if you want to use Krisp for more than 1 hour per day, you’ll have to pay $8–12 per month for it. Unless you use Discord, because Krisp is already built into Discord. You just have to go to ‘User Settings,’ then to ‘Voice & Video,’ and then to ‘Advanced.’ Here you can easily select Krisp in the ‘Noise Suppression’ section without subscribing! Free Noise Suppression! This combo of Phasma and Krisp is pretty awesome.

Settings in Discord for using krisp.ai

Of course, comfort is also an important issue. I received a lot of comments from people saying that they would never wear a mask while playing because it was terribly uncomfortable, and they already had enough experience wearing masks due to Covid. In fact, comfort is the least critical aspect of the Phasma mask in my opinion.

The mask is attached to the neck with a rubber strap and can be tightened. Optionally, there is a second strap that you can place on top of the head. Personally, I always use the second strap because it makes me not feel the weight of the mask at all. Without the head strap, the weight would be concentrated entirely on the bridge of the nose and neck, which is less comfortable. Overall, the mask weighs 290g, which is not too heavy, but still more than wearing nothing.

The mask weighs 290g

On the skin, there is a very soft cushion with which I have never had any problems. I can understand that many people have developed an aversion to masks in the last 3 years. FFP2 masks can be really tiring because the rubber bands cut into the ears from behind, the mask presses on the bridge of the nose, and breathing become difficult. For a short time, it is okay, but if you wear such a mask for a long time, it can be really exhausting. In comparison, I could actually wear the Phasma all day if I wanted to. The pads are soft on the skin, the valve makes breathing not a bit difficult, and the weight is distributed on the neck and head, so it does not press anywhere.

Only in the summer, when it’s hot and you’re sweating all over your body, does the mask become very uncomfortable because you sweat underneath it. However, I have the same problem with my closed headphones and my VR headset. It’s simply the nature of the matter.

A neck strap

But apart from the summer heat, the wearing comfort of the mask is really top-notch and gives me absolutely nothing to complain about. Comfort is, of course, very subjective, and just because my head fits very well in the mask, that doesn’t mean that it will also sit perfectly on your head. The mask can be ordered in three different sizes, and of course, you have to decide for yourself how comfortable you find the mask. I can only speak for myself, and the mask fits me like a glove.

One idea for a future version of the Phasma would be to have only the mouth covered and leave the nose free. In that case, the weight would no longer rest on the bridge of the nose, but the head strap would probably absorb it. This design would also allow me to wear the mask with my VR headset without any problems. Right now, the two collide right on my nose, and the combination is too uncomfortable for me.

A second strap for your head

The Phasma is not yet available in retail stores. If you want it, you have to order it on metadox.pro and wait 8–10 weeks for delivery because it is made to order for you. For this, you have three sizes to choose from, you can position the microphone input on the left or right side, and you can choose between eight colors for the stitching. The price of the mask is currently 169€ with free shipping, and you can pay with all major payment methods. Of course, 169€ is not a small amount of money and may not fit into every budget.

One of my followers on TikTok suggested that I should move to a bigger apartment if my wife feels disturbed by my noise. In this context, the Phasma mask is much more affordable than moving to a new apartment.

Phasma collides with VR headset

But you have to put it in perspective. I paid over 1000€ for my VR headset and 180€ for my Elgato Key Light. So, 170€ for a silencer is within my budget because it completes my gaming setup. What do you think about the price? How much would you be willing to pay for the Phasma?

Ok, this is the Phasma. It’s not for everyone, but it’s an awesome gimmick for all gamers who play louder than they should and want to change that. It allows easy breathing and is comfortable on the skin, neck, and head. Your voice isn’t completely muffled, but the difference with the mask is clearly a reduction of a few decibels. The microphone remains the most critical part of the Phasma when trying to use a third-party mic, but the built-in version delivers good sound without clipping. Breath noise is distracting but can easily be filtered out via software. It is available for $190 or 169€ exclusively on metadox.pro and will be made for you in 8–10 weeks.

If you like to learn more about innovative technologies like Blockchains, Generative AI or innovative gimmicks like the Phasma, visit my YouTube channel here:

(2) TheInnovationEngineer — YouTube