Acoustics & Audio Technology News

Based on computer modeling, hearing research at the University of Essex has delivered multiple "world firsts" in characterizing hearing impairment by reverse-engineering the human ear. The ultimate reward is a hearing aid custom-tailored to each person via tuning with a PC interface. The model reportedly is the first to address different kinds of hearing impairment. Other "firsts" encompass measuring hearing loss through the complete cycle; designing a hearing dummy to adjust a hearing aid; and, tuning hearing aids for each individual patient. Within four years, this new testing system and hearing aid could be available. See and hear all the details.

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GlobalSpec's Electronic Components & Product Design Event — September 14, 2011

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Attend an educational Webinar on testing audio playback devices faster and more comprehensively. Many audio systems play content from files, e.g. tablets, media players, smartphones, disc players. These are challenging to test due to the lack of an input port. Attend/download Webinar.

Extech sound meters, from Fotronic Corporation, include all the features and functions needed for basic noise level surveys or to meet the requirements for OSHA compliance, community noise ordinances, or machine noise evaluation. It is tripod mountable and has a ±2 dB accuracy with 0.1 dB resolution.

Transparent, lightweight loudspeakers made from graphene sheets may soon grace computer screens, displays, and even windows. Utilizing inkjet printing and vapor deposition, Korean researchers deposited graphene oxide onto PVDF film. Reduction then yields graphene film. In operation, electrical current from a sound source distorts the PVDF film to create sound. Noise-cancelling devices are also possible by using inverted-phase waves of the original sound.

Consumers don't necessarily have to spend $1000 to get great sound for high-definition TVs. Versus costly surround-sound systems, soundbar speakers are filling the gap at 10% of the price of the ultimate sound and deliver outstanding performance over built-in speakers. For example, 2.1 channels at 30 W with two 7.5 W speakers and a 15 W subwoofer go for $129.99 suggested retail.

Designed for embedding into chip packaging and PCBs, a capacitor material is made of a thin ceramic-filled-epoxy layer between copper foil layers. The UL recognized capacitance material minimizes EMI, impedance, power bus noise, and more. Recommended applications include computer, consumer electronics, medical, military/aerospace, telecommunications, and test/measurement industries.

Inevitably, guests can't sleep at their hotel if there's too much noise. So an international hotel found a solution. Designed to reduce noise, an acoustic overglass vent bar reduced adjacent road noise from 73.9 to a mere 35 dB. Readily installed above double-glazed glass, the acoustic aluminum vent bars also minimize entry of airborne pollutants.

PCB Model HT378B02 is designed to overcome high temperature testing challenges associated with acoustic measurements in environmental chambers or other high temperature applications.

TES Electrical Electronic Corp. is a professional test instrument manufacturer dedicated to all kinds of handheld equipment. The TES-1354/1355 Noise Dose Meter measures: personal sound exposure measurement at work, percent noise dose, exposure time, sound level, and more. Find out more about TES Electrical Electronic Corp.

Caltech researchers have made the first acoustic diode that's tunable. The device allows audible sound waves to pass in one direction and blocks them in the opposite direction. Using a "simple assembly of elastic spheres" to transmit sound, potential systems employing the technology reach past soundproofing to supersensitive acoustic sensors, ultrasonic biomedical devices, as a way to boost energy-harvesting, and more.

Modulating the signal so noise doesn't distort it, a new low-speed wireless technology utilizes the identical frequencies as Wi-Fi network cards, but promises energy and equipment savings for smart grid communications. Ultra-Link Processing can transmit signals 45 miles away at much lower power than existing systems. Just 35 of the devices read data transmitted from smart electricity meters spread over 4,000 sq m.

If a navigation system existed for public transportation in European cities, many drivers might opt to take local buses, trains, and trams. Toward that end, Fraunhofer researchers are developing a navigation application for cell and smartphones. Launching the app and entering the location directs users to the nearest bus stop or station and are told what lines to take and changes to make.

Admittedly, it's no simple task to find autistic children, elderly Alzheimer patients, and other impaired people who tend to wander off from home. Fortunately, emergency tracking devices are now making progress in making that challenging task easier, allowing authorities to locate missing loved ones in record time, sometimes mere minutes as this video describes. Various devices use cellular networks, GPS, or radio frequencies.

The OROS Overall Acoustic is an optional NVGate plug-in for all OROS 3-Series Analyzers. With an OROS 3-Series you get a multi-channel analyzer, so why not turn your unit into a true multi-channel sound level meter. The OVA plug-in extends the analyzer capabilities to a comprehensive acoustic measurement system.

BK Precision 735 Sound Level Meter, Digital, Datalogging, with RS-232 software and cable.

Whether you are testing for OSHA compliance, quieting equipment, or monitoring the roar of a stadium crowd, B+K Precision's Sound Level Meters can get the job done. With the model 735, BK Precision can meet all your sound testing needs.

Motorcycle engines tend to be loud, but that's not the noise that's endangering the hearing of motorcyclists. As it turns out, the "bad" noise actually comes from air blasting around riders' helmets even within legal speed limits. Utilizing microphones and wind tunnel testing, scientists ascertained that significant noise generated under the helmet near the chin bar makes its way to the eardrums.

In the U.S., all electric cars have to make noise when driven so as not to be a danger to pedestrians, as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration decided. Fortunately or not, individual automakers have been left to decide what kind of warning sound their EVs should emit. Here's one of four sounds proposed for the electric Ford Focus. Check out the others.

Vote on Alert Sounds for Electric Ford Focus

Cast your votes by ranking what the warning alerts should sound like for the electric Ford Focus.

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