Pure sound, direct to you

• Autores: Paul Marks
• Localización: New scientist, ISSN 0262-4079, Nº. 2954, 2014, págs. 21-22
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • If one is sick of wading through a clogged email inbox or scrolling through endless Twitter timelines, Jorg Muller has a more fun way of sifting through messages: sound. In his audio-enabled "BoomRoom" at the Technical University of Berlin in Germany, emails and tweets fly around like a flock of birds, each chirping a subtly different sound that identifies the sender. Being able to direct sound in such a focused way has only recently become possible thanks to smarter audio processing algorithms, directional loudspeakers and gesture-recognition technology, says Muller. His flying email concept might still seem a bit far-fetched, but steering sound exactly where it is wanted is already catching on elsewhere in a number of different real-world applications. One day, it might even help create smart homes that can speak to their visually impaired owners. Here, Marks discusses the ability to place sound exactly where one wants it that has all kinds of unusual uses.