Researchers at Pennsylvania State University have developed a new technology called Audible Enclave that allows you to listen to music without headphones, without disturbing others, even in a closed space, such as a car.
Researchers at Pennsylvania State University have developed a new technology called Audible Enclave that allows you to listen to music without headphones, without disturbing others, even in a closed space, such as a car.
Audible Enclave uses ultrasonic sound waves to create focused “pockets” of sound that only you can hear. Using a series of acoustic lenses, or metasurfaces, the system bends ultrasonic beams in the air. When the two beams intersect, they generate sound only in a small, targeted space. You can only hear the music if you stand in that space, writes BGR.
Essentially, it's a virtual set of headphones without any additional hardware. The current prototype of the headphone-free music technology can transmit clear sound over a distance of about one meter. Researchers say it can reach conversational volume.
“To test the system, we used a head and torso mannequin with microphones in the ears to simulate what a human hears at points along the path of the ultrasound beam, as well as a third microphone to scan the intersection area. We confirmed that no sound was audible except at the intersection point, which creates what we call an enclave,” said the study’s first author Jia-Xin, a doctoral student in acoustics at Penn State University.
Unlike traditional headphones, this new technology also lets you hear what's going on around you. This allows you to stay informed and interact with others while listening to music or a podcast.
Because nothing is physically worn, this headphone-free music device could also be a game-changer in terms of accessibility, especially for users with increased tactile sensitivity or those who find regular headphones uncomfortable.
The technology is still in early testing, but looking ahead, the researchers believe they can scale the technology to work over longer distances and at higher volumes. That could mean private audio zones in public spaces, concerts with personalized streams, or listening on the go without a network connection.
