Branch– Electronics
ID No– 16EL035
Name – Utsav Fuletra
Subject– Seminar
Semester – 7th
Year– 4rd
Mentors– Ajay Daiya and Mahendra Prajapati
Audio Spotlighting
WHAT ?
Audio spot lighting is a revolutionary new audio technology that
creates focused beams of sound similar to light beams coming out
of a flashlight .
By ‘shining’ sound to one location, specific listeners can be targeted
with sound without others nearby hearing it.
Audio spotlight can be either directed at a particular listener or to a
point where it is reflected.
Being the most recent and drastic change in the way we perceive
sound since the invention of coil loud speaker, audio spotlight
technology can do many miracles in various fields like private
messaging system, home theaters etc.
History
This technology was originally developed by the US Navy and Soviet
Navy for underwater sonar in the mid-1960s.
In 1975, the first publication appeared which demonstrated that
these nonlinear effects indeed occur in air.
The technology was briefly investigated by Japanese researchers in
the early 1980s, but these efforts were abandoned due to extremely
poor sound quality (high distortion) and substantial system cost.
These problems went unsolved until a paper published by Dr. F.
Joseph Pompei of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1998
fully described a working device that reduced audible distortion
essentially to that of a traditional loudspeaker.
How ‘Audio Spotlighting’ Works
This acoustic device comprises a speaker that fires inaudible
ultrasound pulses with very small wavelength which act in a manner
very similar to that of a narrow light beam. The ultra sound beam
acts as an air borne speaker and as the beam moves through the
air gradual distortion takes place in a predictable way due to the
property of non-linearity of air.
This gives rise to audible components that can be accurately
predicted and precisely controlled.
It uses a non-linear acoustics for its working.
Difference from Convectional speaker
The most sophisticated hi-fi speakers have difficult time in
reproducing clean bass, and generally rely on a large
woofer/enclosure combination to assist in the task.
Whether they be dynamic, electrostatic, or some other transducer-
based design, all loudspeakers today have one thing in common :
they are direct radiating, i.e., they are fundamentally a piston-like
device designed to directly pump air molecules into motion to
create the audible sound we hear.
The audible portions of sound tend to spread out in all directions
from the point of origin.
The beam angle of audible sound is very wide, just about 360
degrees. This effectively means the sound that you hear will be
propagated through air equally in all directions.
In order to focus sound into narrow beam, you need to maintain a
low beam angle that is dictated by wavelength. The smaller is the
wavelength, the less is the beam angle, and hence, the more
focused is the sound.
Most of the human audible sound is a mixture of signals with varying
wavelengths that is between 2 cm to 17 cm (the human hearing
ranges from a frequency of 20Hz to 20,000 Hz).
Hence, except for very low wavelengths, just about entire audible
spectrum tends to spread out at 360 degrees.
To create narrow sound beam, the aperture size of the source also
matters a large loud speaker will focus sound over the smaller areas.
If the source loudspeaker can be made several times larger than
the wavelength of the sound transmitted, then the finely focused
beam can be created.
The Difference
Working
As we know human audible frequency range is 20 Hz to 20 kHz. In
this system originally the low frequency sound such as human voice
or music is transformed into a high frequency ultrasonic sound which
inaudible for human.
In the beginning the human voice or music is applied to the audio
spotlight emitter device. The low frequency data is modulated to a
high frequency ultrasonic level.
Since the wave length of the ultrasonic frequency is small of the
order of mm and beam angle is also small hence the sound beam
will be narrow with small dispersion.
When inaudible ultrasound pulses are fired into the air, it
spontaneously converts the inaudible ultrasound into the audible
sound tones, hence proved that as like water, sound propagation in
air is non-linear.
So due to its non-linear property the air slightly alters the sound
wave, the alteration in the original sound wave gives rise to a new
sound wave within the ultrasonic wave.
Since we can’t hear the ultrasonic sound wave we hear only new
sound wave which is formed due to the non-linearity of air.
COMPONENTS OF AUDIO SPOTLIGHTING
1. Power supply.
2. Frequency oscillator.
3. Modulator.
4. Audio signal processor.
5. Microcontroller unit.
6. Ultrasonic amplifier.
7. Transducer.
Block diagram of system
About Components
1. Power supply: Like all electronics the audio spotlight works off the DC
supply. Ultrasonic amplifier requires 48v DC supply for its working and
low voltage for microcontroller and other units.
2. Frequency oscillator: The frequency oscillator generates ultrasonic
frequency of in the range of which is required for the modulation of
information signal
3. Modulator: In order to convert the source signal material into
ultrasonic signal a modulation scheme is required which is achieved
through a modulator. In addition, error correction is needed to reduce
distortion without loss of efficiency. By using a DSB modulator the
modulation index can be reduced to decrease distortion.
4. Audio signal processor: The audio signal is sent to electronic signal
processor circuit where equalization and distortion control are
performed in order to produce a good quality sound signal.
5. Microcontroller: A dedicated microcontroller circuit takes care of
the functional management of the system. In the future version, it is
expected that the whole process like functional management,
signal processing, double side band modulation and even switch
mode power supply would be effectively taken care of by a single
embedded IC.
6. Ultrasonic Amplifier: High-efficiency ultrasonic power amplifiers
amplifies the frequency modulated wave in order to match the
impedance of the integrated transducers. So that the output of the
emitter will be more powerful and can cover more distance.
7. Transducer: It is 1.27 cm thick and 17 cm in diameter. It is capable
of producing audibility up to 200 meters with better clarity of sound.
It has the ability of real time sound reproduction with zero lag. It can
be wall, overhead or flush mounted. These transducers are
arranged in form of an array called parametric array.
MODES OF LISTENING
Direct Mode
Projected Mode
ADVANTAGES
Can focus sound only at the place you want.
Ultrasonic emitter devices are thin and flat and do not require a
mounting cabinet.
The focused or directed sound travels much faster in a straight line
than conventional loudspeakers.
Dispersion can be controlled - very narrow or wider to cover more
listening area.
Highly cost effective as the maintenance required is less as
compared to conventional loud speakers and have longer life span.
APPLICATIONS
Automobiles: Beam alert signals can be directly propagated from
an announcement device in the dashboard to the driver. Presently
Mercedes - Benz are fitted with audio spotlighting speakers so that
individual travellers can enjoy the music of there on interest.
Store advertisement: Provide targeted advertising directly at the
point of purchase.
Entertainment system: In home theatre system rear speakers can be
eliminated by the implementation of audio spotlighting and the
properties of sound can be improve.
Safety officials: Portable audio spotlighting devices for
communicating with a specific person in a crowd of people.
Hospitals: Using the unprecedented directivity of the Audio Spotlight
directional speaker technology, patients are able to watch the
programs they prefer, privately, without bothering any of the other
patients, doctors, or nursing staff.
Emergency rescue: Rescuers can communicate with endangered
people far from reach.
Military applications: Ship - to - ship communications and shipboard
announcements.
Audio/Video conferencing: Project the audio from a conference in
four different languages, forma single central device without the
need for headphones.
Sound bullets: Jack the sound level 50 times the human threshold of
pain, and an offshoot of audio spotlighting sound technology
becomes a non-lethal weapon.
CONCLUSION
Audio Spotlighting is going to change our view in sound transmission.
The user can decide the direction of sound in which it should
propagate. Since the sound in this system propagates in single
direction, it is applicable in several fields. Audio Spotlighting will be an
amazing experience for the users.
REFERENCES
[1] F. Joseph Pompei. The use of airborne ultrasonic for generating
audible sound beams. Journal of the Audio Engineering Society, P.
J. Westervelt. Parametric acoustic array. Journal of the Acoustical
Society of America.
[2] AUDIO SPOTLIGHT by Ayushi Kaushik, Jyoti Pandey, Neha tomar
International Journal Of Advance Research In Science And
Engineering IJARSE, Vol. No.2, Issue No.10, October 2013.
Thank You!
