Goodbye, headphones. With this technology, sound is sent straight to your ears.
These days, listening to music on Spotify or any other streaming service, as well as watching YouTube videos or podcasts, are among the most popular activities. You usually wear one of the many different kinds of headphones that are available, like Apple's AirPods, but did you know that you can stop using them?
Even though Elon Musk's Neuralink, which uses a chip implanted in the brain or ear, is probably going to accomplish something similar eventually, audio engineering specialists have advanced significantly this time.
Although wireless and over-ear headphones still need to be put on and taken off, many users find this to be inconvenient. High-quality headphones are frequently used for activities, outdoor activities, and even at home.
They have found a method for people to receive audio transmissions straight into their ears without the need for cumbersome headphones, which is connected to the previously mentioned discovery.
The gadgets you usually use are made up of digital processing chips and tiny electronic parts, usually a loudspeaker, amplifier, or receiver. Sound transmission, or the process of transforming sound wave energy into electrical signals to transmit sound, is the concept behind this component combination.
This new technique is known as "audible enclaves." The listener can detect sound in these precise locations with clarity and accuracy. As a result, this sound is unaffected and is not regarded as invasive.
"We employ two ultrasonic transducers that are fixed to an acoustic surface. These transducers produce self-bending beams that cross at a particular location. Anyone in the vicinity cannot hear the sound, but the person standing there can. This ensures listening privacy by establishing a privacy barrier between users.
These are the regions where sounds are only captured at the intersection of the two 3D-printed surfaces in front of the transformers, as seen in the picture.
These components form a crescent-shaped band until they converge to receive the ultrasound waves, as explained by experts Yun Jing and Xiao Xing Xia of the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in the official article from Pennsylvania State University.
Acoustic scientist Jia-Shin "Jay" Chung also demonstrated how to test this method for receiving sound. They apparently used a dummy to simulate what these devices could do to a human.
"To test the system, we used a dummy with a simulated head and torso, equipped with microphones in the ears to simulate what a human would hear at points along the path of the ultrasound beam, as well as a third microphone to scan the intersection area. We ensured that the sound was only audible at the intersection point, resulting in what we call a pocket. Jae Chung."
Thanks to this intersection of ultrasonic transducers attached to the aforementioned "millimeter- or sub-millimeter-scale surfaces," local nonlinear interaction can achieve sound transmission at 60 dB over a distance of one meter, for the time being.
This product is still in development, but there is no doubt that it represents a significant advancement for humanity, as it may be the key to developing devices to address hearing loss or eliminate the need to carry headphones.