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At least for coil speakers, arrays of smaller speakers can perform better than one large speaker (or at least, better than the sum of their parts). It looks li

At least for coil speakers, arrays of smaller speakers can perform better than one large speaker (or at least, better than the sum of their parts). It looks like the ones from the article are meant for earbuds, but if these MEMS speakers someday become cheap enough to create a large phased array of them it might make for neat hi-fi system.

ttul 6y ago
An array would allow, presumably, for beamforming. Aim the sound precisely at the listeners’ ears. Stick a camera on each speaker that identifies faces and beams sound accordingly, leaving those not in the room in near total silence.
- megous 6y ago
  Is that even possible with large part of the hearable spectrum having wavelengths in meters? How precise would that be?
  - seryoiupfurds 6y ago
    Could you transmit ultrasonic carrier waves that intermodulate at the right spot?
    - zaarn 6y ago
      Yes you can, with an ultrasonic transmitter you can create sound in specific spots or that only a specific listener can hear.
      - bashinator 6y ago
        Holosonics.com, or a lot less comfortably, [LRAD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Range_Acoustic_Device https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Range_Acoustic_Device)
  - bashinator 6y ago
    It's absolutely possible, and has been implemented by companies like holosonics.com. The basic idea is that you do phase cancellation of ultrasonic frequencies to produce audio in the hearable range.
- cjsawyer 6y ago
  Remember that xbox patent that would charge video watchers per person instead of per rental?
- willis936 6y ago
  Impractical with multipath. You would have better luck targeting people to not hear any sound than you would making it silent everywhere but one location. Unless you turned all walls into speakers, which would be a fun hobby project. You could also skip all of these issues if you really want Hi-Fi and just used sealed IEMs.
lukevp 6y ago
Perhaps I misunderstand this, but aren’t waveform arrays are meant more for uniformity than output? At least in the case of lightbulbs, adding 10 1800 lumen lights in an array would not result in additional light at any given point unless the light was focused, wouldn’t the same be true of sound?
- KaiserPro 6y ago
  for light, you are mostly correct. LED strips over a sheet with a diffuser produces a more useful light. But, as light is in the Thz range, doing any meaningful beamforming is exceedingly difficult. Because speakers are well within the range of controllability, its perfectly possible to alter the phase to steer the audio output. this is possible because changing the phase moves the peaks and troughs of the waves to "move" the sound to where its wanted.

ttul 6y ago

An array would allow, presumably, for beamforming. Aim the sound precisely at the listeners’ ears. Stick a camera on each speaker that identifies faces and beams sound accordingly, leaving those not in the room in near total silence.

megous 6y ago
Is that even possible with large part of the hearable spectrum having wavelengths in meters? How precise would that be?
- seryoiupfurds 6y ago
  Could you transmit ultrasonic carrier waves that intermodulate at the right spot?
  - zaarn 6y ago
    Yes you can, with an ultrasonic transmitter you can create sound in specific spots or that only a specific listener can hear.
    - bashinator 6y ago
      Holosonics.com, or a lot less comfortably, [LRAD](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Range_Acoustic_Device https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_Range_Acoustic_Device)
- bashinator 6y ago
  It's absolutely possible, and has been implemented by companies like holosonics.com. The basic idea is that you do phase cancellation of ultrasonic frequencies to produce audio in the hearable range.
cjsawyer 6y ago
Remember that xbox patent that would charge video watchers per person instead of per rental?
willis936 6y ago
Impractical with multipath. You would have better luck targeting people to not hear any sound than you would making it silent everywhere but one location. Unless you turned all walls into speakers, which would be a fun hobby project. You could also skip all of these issues if you really want Hi-Fi and just used sealed IEMs.

lukevp 6y ago

Perhaps I misunderstand this, but aren’t waveform arrays are meant more for uniformity than output? At least in the case of lightbulbs, adding 10 1800 lumen lights in an array would not result in additional light at any given point unless the light was focused, wouldn’t the same be true of sound?

KaiserPro 6y ago
for light, you are mostly correct. LED strips over a sheet with a diffuser produces a more useful light. But, as light is in the Thz range, doing any meaningful beamforming is exceedingly difficult. Because speakers are well within the range of controllability, its perfectly possible to alter the phase to steer the audio output. this is possible because changing the phase moves the peaks and troughs of the waves to "move" the sound to where its wanted.