Hypersonic Sound: So Crazy, It Just Might Work

[Jason Dunn]

<div class='os_post_top_link'><a href='http://www.prisonplanet.com/audios_the_next_big_thing.html' target='_blank'>http://www.prisonplanet.com/audios_the_next_big_thing.html</a><br /><br /></div><i>"It's the most promising audio advance in years, and it's coming this fall: Hypersonic speakers, from American Technology (headed by the irrepressible Woody Norris, whose radical personal flying machine appeared on our August cover), focus sound in a tight beam, much like a laser focuses light...The applications are many, from targeted advertising to virtual rear-channel speakers. The key is frequency: The ultrasonic speakers create sound at more than 20,000 cycles per second, a rate high enough to keep in a focused beam and beyond the range of human hearing."</i><br /><br />This is unbelievably cool! 8O I just hope it makes it's way to the mainstream market. Having 3.1 speakers and getting 5.1 or 7.1 sound from them would be awesome!

[Brandon Miniman]

This is certainly a promising technology - but as the other uses imply, focusing sound will produce "sweet spots" of concentrated sound. In a theatre environment, though, if you move your head a foot to the right or left, the sound suddenly moves out of "focus." I don't see this working in a 3.1-type application anytime soon.