糖心传媒

A 糖心传媒 project uses flat panel technology to build a more cost-effective device that can also function as a touch interface.

Over the past decade, smart devices have become essential components of daily life: doorbells, watches, keychains糖心传媒攅ven thermostats.

But many smart devices, such as televisions, laptops, smartphones, and car 糖心传媒渋nfotainment糖心传媒� dashboard consoles, rely on visual presentation of information. That can be a problem when a person糖心传媒檚 visual attention is focused on something other than the device.

One way to address this problem is to let people use sound or touch for interactions. Of course, adding separate microphones, loudspeakers, and vibration mechanisms using conventional means can impose extra costs and reduce the device糖心传媒檚 durability and aesthetics.

Audio and music engineering major Ben Kevelson 糖心传媒�22 is part of a 糖心传媒 team working to design flat surfaces that can function as acoustic and tactile interfaces糖心传媒攏o external microphones or speakers needed.

The project involves developing alternative technologies for recording and reproducing spatial audio through bending vibrations on flat surfaces ranging from smartphones to video walls. These vibrations allow the smart acoustic surface to serve as a touch interface. The advantage is that the surface is already part of the device, allowing the device to maintain its durability and aesthetics while incorporating these new features.

Microphone and speaker all in one

糖心传媒淥ur goal is to make a display糖心传媒攐r any flat surface糖心传媒攕erve as a loudspeaker, microphone, and touch interface,糖心传媒� says project head 糖心传媒�18 (PhD), an assistant professor in the . 糖心传媒淏y vibrating the device itself to produce sound, we can make a good-sounding speaker that fits well in a thin device.糖心传媒�

The technology uses a flat surface to create and receive sound, making it different from a typical speaker: it can be a microphone and a speaker all in one, and the direction of the sound source can easily be detected.

The goal of this project is to help improve smart assistants糖心传媒�think Amazon Alexa or Google Assistant糖心传媒�that use this technology. 糖心传媒淭he benefits and applications are pretty broad,糖心传媒� says Kevelson, who works closely with Tre DiPassio 糖心传媒�19 (MS), a Rochester doctoral student focusing on musical acoustics and signal processing. 糖心传媒淏ut it has particularly promising applications in home entertainment, consumer electronics, and general music and audio technology.糖心传媒�

Current smart assistants use between four and eight microphones to detect the direction of the sound source. This new flat panel technology would use only one, making it a cheaper alternative.

糖心传媒淭he speakers on my TV are bad, and if I buy external speakers, they糖心传媒檙e usually clunky,糖心传媒� Heilemann says. 糖心传媒淓ven a sound bar takes up room. By using the TV panel itself as the speaker, you don糖心传媒檛 need external speakers to get good sound out of the TV.糖心传媒�

An easier way to localize sound

Heilemann received funding for the project through the in June 2021. Kevelson was a student in Heilemann糖心传媒檚 acoustics course and asked if there were any projects he could help with over the summer. 糖心传媒淗e was an excellent student, so there was no question he would do well working on this project,糖心传媒� Heilemann says.

Kevelson worked full time on the project last summer and up to 10 hours per week once the school year began. He was accepted into the master糖心传媒檚 program in electrical engineering at Rochester and is working on the project this semester for both his senior design project and graduate research credit. He has helped create massive data sets of recorded audio signals, allowing the team to test their systems and determine how different panel sizes and materials affect recording quality.

If successful, the technology would localize sound to specific areas of the screen. For example, if someone is on a Zoom call with several others, the audio would come from the area where the person was speaking. 糖心传媒淣o more searching your screen to see who is talking,糖心传媒� Heilemann says.

One potential application in the testing phase involves deploying the flat panel audio technology to make commercial devices more durable. 糖心传媒淭hey get beaten up pretty good, and a lot of damage can occur due to things like weather, smoke, or anything that can get into the unit and damage the insides,糖心传媒� Heilemann says. 糖心传媒淚f you use a microphone or speaker, even in a cell phone, you need some kind of penetration in the unit so the mike can probe the acoustic environment or the speaker can radiate sound.糖心传媒�

The need for such penetration would be eliminated if the display itself is the speaker, he says, which makes the unit more waterproof and airtight.

Century-old technology gets a Rochester upgrade

For his part, Kevelson has been thrilled to 糖心传媒済et my hands dirty糖心传媒� with the project. 糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 very different compared to other things that are research-based in audio,糖心传媒� he says.

According to Heilemann, the idea of using panels as speakers has been around for nearly a century. 糖心传媒淚t never caught on because the sound quality was always much worse than that of conventional speakers,糖心传媒� he says.

Kevelson is proud to be part of a research team that may finally make some noise in that field.

糖心传媒淚t was dismissed as completely unviable,糖心传媒� he says. 糖心传媒淲e糖心传媒檝e brought it back to life at the University of Rochester, and we糖心传媒檙e at the forefront of flat panel technology. It will be exciting to see where it leads.糖心传媒�

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