Take a look at the photo below and try to figure out exactly what it is. A head-mounted carbon fiber sunshade? The latest Milan fashion inspired by Catholic nun habits? A solar-powered personal telepathy machine for the eco-friendly supervillain? The answer is none of the above: it's a giant plastic dome that, according to creator Silentium, cancels out surrounding ambient noise.

That's right, it's a real version of the Cone of Silence, favored by agents of a certain fictional spy agency.

To be fair, Silentium isn't just some fly-by-night company hoping to make headlines at the yearly parade of weird tech in the less-traveled halls of CES. They've created real products before, like a specialized quiet server enclosure and an active noise-cancellation system for the auto market. The "Comfort-Shell" appears to be a more general application of the company's Quiet-Bubble noise control system, which actively "cancels out" surrounding noise by pumping out sound at equal amplitude but opposing phases. It's the same basic principle behind noise-cancelling headphones, which have been around for decades. We've just never seen it applied to something that looks like a 23rd-century hair dryer.

Silentium hopes that the Comfort-Shell will be popular at airports, train stations, coffee shops, and other potentially noisy locations (where noise-cancelling headphones are already popular). The company's PR also mentions home and office applications, which seems to imply that at least someone thinks that people will buy these at retail and take them home.

It's specifically designed to work with mobile phones, allowing users to make phone calls or listen to music in relative peace. And the idea itself isn't all that ridiculous, though I imagine there's only so much an active anti-noise system can do in an open environment without a physical barrier between the user and the outside environment. It will also be hard to convince businesses to install what's probably a four-figure electronic system that works for only one user, though I suppose you could add some kind of pay-per-use setup.

And if that doesn't work, you can always set them up outside and call them personal non-mobile umbrellas.