Printable Loudspeaker Arrays for Flexible Substrates and Interactive Surfaces
New Media student, Jess Rowland, partners with Adrian Freed, Research Director of UC Berkeley's Center for New Music and Audio Technologies (CNMAT), to showcase a new technique for building large loudspeaker arrays.
Planar loudspeaker drivers have been well explored for many years, a flat speaker array system that may flex or fold freely remains a challenge for engineers. Rowland and Freed demonstrate a viable technique for building large loudspeaker arrays that allow for diffused fields of sound transduction on flexible membranes. Planar voice coils are made from machine-cut copper sheets, or by inkjet printing and electroless copper plating, on paper, thin plastic, or similar lightweight material. They will present various ways of attaching thin magnets to these membranes, including a novel alternative strategy of mounting magnets in gloves worn by the listener. This creates an interactive and engaging experience for listeners in which gestures can control sounds from the speaker array. Jess will be presenting her work on printable speakers at the Audio Engineering Society Meeting, Monday, October 29, 2012.
Read more about Jess' work on her site.
Photos: "Paper Speakers" (Jess Rowland)