PREPARED BY : NISHANT KR.

SRIVASTAVA

WHAT IS AUDIO SPOTLIGHTING? It creates focused beams of sound similar to light beams coming out of a flashlight. It uses ultrasonic energy to create extremely narrow beams of sound that behave like beams of light.

 First attempts created a single tone (1975)

Audio tone made directive using a

transducer array by Ricoh, Japan (1983) Systems developed for audio frequencies at MITs Media Labs and at American Technology Corporation (1998). than conventional speakers.

At present, sound quality is a little worse

 Produces audio beam (like a flash light) Makes use of interference from ultrasonic

waves
Potentially great dynamic range (better than

speaker cones)

Apr 15, Spring 2002

CS 7497

Apr 15, Spring 2002

CS 7497

Apr 15, Spring 2002

CS 7497

Apr 15, Spring 2002

CS 7497

Apr 15, Spring 2002

CS 7497

Apr 15, Spring 2002

CS 7497

Holy Grail of interactive audio? Avoid cross-talk cancellation Track users ears and aim spotlight at head AR; aim it at objects

Apr 15, Spring 2002

CS 7497

Diffusion (some work with radiosity) Diffraction HRTFs with audio spotlights Integration of graphics and audio hardware for wave tracing (Nvidia?)

Apr 15, Spring 2002

CS 7497

f1 Non-Linear Device (Air) f2 f1 f2

f1 + f2

f1 - f2

Ex: An ultrasonic signal at 200kHz and another one at 201kHz will generate a 1kHz tone and a 401kHz signal which is inaudible to the human ear.

If an AM signal with a non-zero carrier amplitude is passed through Air, it is selfdemodulated

Carrier 0

-f0

f0

Need powerful ultrasonic sources

modulating these without distortion is difficult

Need an array of transducers that have to be precisely controlled. Conventional ultrasonic transducer elements introduce too much distortion.

Physically small speakers

No need for crossovers,

tweeters, woofers, voice coils

Power efficient Directionality

Resultant audio retains directionality of

ultrasound source Acoustic Spotlight

By altering the direction of projection, audio can be made to originate from different locations

 The volume range of the ultrasound speaker is comparable

to traditional speakers but the physical size is smaller. The exact amplitude depends upon the amount of power fed in. The speakers can easily take in 50Watts of power. But since their acoustical impedance is better matched to the acoustical impedance of air, they are more efficient and can produce sound several dBs lounder than a traditional speaker with the same power capability.

 Currently, the only technology developed is to use the

self-demodulation of a single ultrasound signal to create a sound. This wave can be projected onto a surface of the room and then a listener will perceive the wave as originating from that point. The technology as described cannot be used to created 3D sound from any point in space. It can only be used to make sound originate from any surface in a room.