Researchers found a way to eavesdrop on headphones from 30 meters away, and encryption can't stop it
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The big picture: Researchers in Hong Kong have developed a technique that uses injected radio signals to extract audio and other information from headphones, phones and smart-home devices. Called InjectEave, the method targets analog components that can leak signals too weak to capture through conventional electromagnetic eavesdropping. In testing, the researchers recovered understandable headphone audio from up to 30 meters away, including through walls.
The research comes from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology in Guangzhou and the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The team presented its paper, "Injected and Leaked: Actively Inducing Side-Channel Leakage Using Electromagnetic Injection and Hardware Nonlinearity," at USENIX Security 2026.
Traditional electromagnetic side-channel attacks rely on passively collecting radiation emitted by electronics. That's often difficult with audio, since low-frequency signals produce weak emissions that get lost...
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