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BYU Project to Silence Computer Fans

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the anti-noise-is-nifty dept.

phunster writes "The New York Times has an article about Scott D. Sommerfeldt and his students at BYU who have created a noise suppression system for computer fans (drop of human blood required to read article). The technology is not new, he uses out of phase sound to substantially cancel out the sound of the fan. What is interesting is his implementation of the technique. While other systems place a microphone and speakers in the center of a room, he places four miniature speakers and microphones around the noise source itself. His results are promising."

6 of 369 comments (clear)

  1. Now THIS is just great... by ControlFreal · · Score: 5, Funny

    BYU Project to Silence Computer Fans

    We as /. computer fans have been discriminated for so long, that you'd think that we, as computer enthousiasts, have had quite enough....

    • First we are bullied as small kids...
    • Then we are bullied as high-school kids...
    • Then we couldn't (or can't) get a girlfriend...
    • Then we are shunned at parties (provided we are invited at all)...
    • Then we are looked at funny for griping about DRM issues...

    An NOW, these people that have been bullying us all along have invented a system that makes us keep our mouths shut... Just great...

    Pills... must... take... pills...

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    1. Re:Now THIS is just great... by nocomment · · Score: 3, Funny

      I think I need some pills also, I thought the article said that a drop of human blood was what silenced the fans. Maybe I jsut need sleep, but I'd prefer pills ;-).

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  2. nice by Zungert · · Score: 4, Funny

    This would be well worth it on 90mm tornados. Its pretty shitty having 4 of them right beside your bed trying to sleep while your linux e-penis uptime grows every night ;)

  3. Next project... by Fizzlewhiff · · Score: 5, Funny

    Now if they could just silence the kids that come to my house to tell me about Joseph Smith.

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    'Same speed C but faster'
  4. We need a context-free human language! by CharAznable · · Score: 3, Funny

    For a second, I thought that BYU was going to hire big, burly henchmen to "take care" of us Slashdotters...

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    The perfect sig is a lot like silence, only louder
  5. Will the same technology... by millahtime · · Score: 4, Funny

    Will the same technology also work on my girlfriend? She is like one of those movies that is just better on mute.

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    Evolution or ID?