World’s first sound projector targets willing individuals

Researchers have demonstrated what they believe is the world’s first sound projector, an advance that allows sound to be focused a precisely as light at consenting individuals.

Dr Gianluca Memoli and his colleagues at Sussex University demonstrated the device in a talk at the 46th International Conference and Exhibition on Computer Graphics & Interactive Techniques (SIGGRAPH 2019) this week.

Dr Memoli, a lecturer in novel interfaces and interactions, said: “By designing acoustic materials at a scale smaller than the wavelength of the sound to create thin acoustic lenses, the sky is the limit in new potential acoustic applications.

“Centuries of optical design can now be applied to acoustics. We believe this technology can be harnessed for plenty of positive applications including personalised alarm messages in a crowd, immersive experiences without headphones, the audio equivalent of special effects.”

The system is said to work with an in-house face-tracking software which is used to pilot an Arduino-controlled acoustic telescope to focus sound on a moving target.