Inventor Creates Soundless Sound System

[ericl]

PORTLAND, Ore. - Elwood "Woody" Norris pointed a metal frequency emitter at one of perhaps 30 people who had come to see his invention. The emitter — an aluminum square — was hooked up by a wire to a CD player. Norris switched on the CD player.

"There's no speaker, but when I point this pad at you, you will hear the waterfall," said the 63-year-old Californian.

And one by one, each person in the audience did, and smiled widely.

Norris' HyperSonic Sound system has won him an award coveted by inventors — the $500,000 annual Lemelson-MIT Prize. It works by sending a focused beam of sound above the range of human hearing. When it lands on you, it seems like sound is coming from inside your head.
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Inventor Creates "Soundless" Sound System

[paul_pci]

Perhaps I'm stupid, or just haven't had enough coffee, but what are the practical implications here?

[MomurdA]

Ive heard of this before. People have been trying to use it for museums, in car audio, etc. so people can listen to what they want, or get info by standing in a beam of sound.

[PAT.P]

Was reading the same article today and was wondering if this focused beam of sound will replace speakers one day.Just imagine being in your living room under a beam and only you could hear the sound.How would it sound and what about the lows of a subwoofer?Should we all stop buying speakers and wait for this technology to become available to consumer?Pat.P

[ericl]

Yeah, it could change everything we know about sound reproduction. It will probably microwave our brains too.

[PAT.P]

This guy is one smart cookie he also invented a airscooter that you can learn to fly in 30 minutes.Is article in Discover july 1997 said he trying to make speakers obsolete and banish them forever .One speaker the size of a Oreo cookie is all it would take.The web page was www.woodynorris.com/articles/dicover.htm go figure maybe we should all save or money and wait.Pat.P

[jxsterlong]

I want $500,000 for presenting technology that already exists ... . I was aware of this technology in 2001 and it was already implented. Maybe Norris just fixed some bugs or enhanced it? In response to the uses question, because it is only heard where it is pointed, it can be listener adjusted (physically tilted) and completely isolated from other listeners with no method of interception. In regards to Car Audio the problems back in the day were amplification, frequency perception control, and size/location (placement) of the emitters. There are obviously much more important available applications. I have no knowledge of the resolution capabilities or of volume adjustment issues.

The award MUST have been for improvements, or the judges weren't aware.

[hermanv]

Yeah, but what cable did he use? Can you bi-wire this?