New Speaker Tech Beams Private Audio Without Headphones
Getting sound from a speaker to fill a room is easy. Getting it to reach just one person without everyone nearby hearing it is much more difficult. Researchers at Pohang University of Science and Technology have developed a new kind of ultrasonic speaker that could make the latter possible, letting people listen to music, announcements, or other audio without headphones and without bothering their neighbors.
The technology, called MiPAL (metamaterials-integrated parametric array loudspeaker), sends audio in a narrow beam aimed at a particular listening area. The researchers demonstrated the system with frequencies from 500 Hz to 10 kHz, covering more than four octaves and a large portion of the range needed for speech and music.
An overview of the technology (📷: W. Kim et al.)
Normal speakers aren't very good at this because sound tends to spread as it travels. One way around that problem is to use a parametric...
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