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Turn Your Head Into Speakers

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the that-just-doesn't-seem-safe dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "A small company based in Iowa has developed products made with a "smart" metal that can turn your walls or your head into speakers. "Last August, Etrema -- an innovative technology firm nestled in the cornfields of Ames, Iowa -- started selling those chrome discs for $1,500 a pair. Called Whispering Windows, they can turn any wall, window, or drab conference table into a speaker." The author tried the technology, and even if she needed a full bottle of Tylenol after usage, said "it's not every day that your head serves as a piece of stereo equipment." This overview tells you more about this "magic" metal, the Terfenol, which is a combination of terbium and dysprosium. The article also says that we can soon expect pirated versions of Terfenol coming from China."

6 of 167 comments (clear)

  1. This explains alot... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...no wonder the voices in my head sound like the Rolling Stones.

    Now if they would only quit playing "Sympathy for the Devil".

    -mark

  2. My head already got a speaker! by DaneelGiskard · · Score: 5, Funny

    I wonder...will god nullify their patent because of prior art? ;-)

  3. Re:Been done before? by PaintyThePirate · · Score: 5, Informative
    Acually, the SoundBug uses Terfenol.
    Etrema is now trying to secure a major retailer to sell a $300 portable version called the Presenter, aimed at business travelers, that can plug into laptops and give any room a top-quality sound system for presentations. A toy version, the Soundbug, is available for $20 from Amazon and OfficeDepot.com. Despite the poorer sound quality, teenage boys seem to like it.
    --
    eclecti.cc
  4. Sound Cancel? by Davak · · Score: 5, Interesting

    One wealthy businessman handed Etrema $1.5 million to stop the slight vibrations on his yacht when he hit top speeds. Terfenol did the trick, allowing him to dine at sea without having his meal shimmy off the plate. [And] a local church hired the firm to build a special pew so that a deaf person could hear the service.

    This interests me more than the original article. How does a speaker-like material stop vibrations? Sure sound is a vibration... but to cancel out another sound/vibration it would have play the inverse sound at exactly the same time to cancel it out.

    I'm assume the pew above just converted the sounds to either physical vibrations which the person could feel... or just adjusted the frequency to something that could be better heard/perceived.

  5. Hearing for the deaf? by timefactor · · Score: 5, Interesting

    a local church hired the firm to build a special pew so that a deaf person could hear the service

    This is the most intriguing thing about this. Would a deaf person be able to "hear" using the "head-as-speaker" technique?

  6. Re:The human stereo by genecystal · · Score: 5, Insightful

    This is not funny. This is terrifyingly prophetic