ARS Technica Newsdesk...
He doesn't quite 'get it', but new article, nonetheless.
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Ars Technica Newsdesk
Here you hear it, there you don't
Posted 05/06/2004 @ 6:45 PM, by Fred "zAmboni" Locklear
Woody Norris has something he only wants you to hear. He has invented a HyperSonic Sound (HSS). sound system that allows sound to be directed at a particular person or object without being heard outside a narrow field. If minor problems can be overcome and mass production techniques can be developed, the invention could be adapted for wide-ranging uses. Sony is interested in HSS for use in home theater systems, law enforcement units think it could be used as a noise distraction device, stores want it for advertisement purposes, and the military wants to use HSS to overload and incapacitate an enemy with high intensity sound waves.
In the demo, a technician points a speaker the size of a cereal box at someone standing 100 yards away. Amid the din of the nearby freeway, the technician plays a recording of ice cubes clinking into a glass. . .To the listener, the sound comes across as if it were through headphones, totally unlike a sound blaring from a distant speaker over oppressive car noise. Take two steps to the side, out of the sound beam, and you hear nothing at all. Step back in, and there it is again.
HyperSonic Sound works by using ultrasonic waves above 20,000 hertz, beyond the limit the human ear can detect. When the narrow HSS beam encounters a solid object, the ultrasonic waves distort into lower-frequency audible sounds. Where the beam interacts, it's as if the sound originates from that spot.
The theory behind HSS is not new. Norris had the idea for nearly 30 years, and in his research, he found that many others have tried and failed to produce directional sound for the past 50 years. Popular Science even awarded him with 2002's "Best of What's New" for his invention. Even though Norris' HSS has been in development for years, he does have competition and will be looking over his shoulder. Norris and rival Joe Pompei have filed for more than 20 patents on the underlying technology involved in directional sound, and commercial products either develop will have to survive legal challenges.
Not everyone is happy with the technology and possible uses for HSS. Some think that advertising using HSS would be similar to the use subliminal messages, blipverts, or brainwashing.
One day soon you may be walking past a drinks dispensing machine and suddenly hear ice-cubes being clinked in a glass, the shusssssh and glug, glug of a refreshing beverage being poured and develop an irresistible urge to have a drink. And it will all seem to be happening inside your head so you'll imagine it's your own idea.
For now, customers are testing out the technology for a variety of uses, but adoption may be slow due to the cost of the system and the fact each unit needs to be hand made. Also, problems with creating low bass tones will help keep HSS systems out of audiophiles' home stereo systems. On the other hand, this is not preventing Sony from incorporating the technology in plasma screens for specialty applications. Widespread application of HSS could still be years away, but with companies like Sony interested, it can only speed mainstream adoption of the technology.
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