An Alternative design for

loudspeakers using the non-

linear interaction of sound waves

18-796 Seminar
Ratish J. Punnoose
 Basic Idea

f1 f1 + f2

N o n - L in e a r D e v ic e f1
( A ir ) f2
f2
f1 - f2

• Ex: An ultrasonic signal at 200kHz and

another one at 201kHz will generate a 1kHz
tone and a 401kHz signal which is inaudible
to the human ear.
 Basic Idea (Contd)

• If an AM signal with a non-zero carrier

amplitude is passed through Air, it is self-
demodulated
C a r r ie r

0 f0
-f0

0
 Difficulties

• Need powerful ultrasonic sources

– modulating these without distortion is difficult
• Need an array of transducers that have to be
precisely controlled.
• Conventional ultrasonic transducer
elements introduce too much distortion.
 Features
• Physically small speakers
– No need for crossovers,
tweeters, woofers, voice coils
• Power efficient
• Directionality
– Resultant audio retains directionality of
ultrasound source
– Acoustic Spotlight
 Features (Contd)

• By altering the direction of projection,

audio can be made to originate from
different locations
 History
• First attempts created a single tone (1975)
• Audio tone made directive using a transducer
array by Ricoh, Japan (1983)
• Systems developed for audio frequencies at
MIT’s Media Labs and at American
Technology Corporation (1998).
• At present, sound quality is a little worse than
conventional speakers.
 References
• Yoneyama, M. “The audio spotlight: An application of
nonlinear interaction of sound waves to a new type of
loudspeaker design”. Journal of the Acoustical Society of
America, vol. 73 no.5, p. 1532-6
• http://school.discover.com/awards/arc97/9707-7G.html
• http://www8.zdnet.com/pcmag/news/trends/t961113a.htm
• http://sound.media.mit.edu/~pompei/
• http://www.audioworld.com/news/9609/26b.html
• http://www.acoustics.org/133rd/2pea.1.html
• http://www.atcsd.com/HTML/whitepaper.html
Question1: Volume range of the
ultrasound speaker?
– The volume range of the ultrasound speaker is
comparable to traditional speakers but the physical size
is smaller. The exact amplitude depends upon the
amount of power fed in. The speakers can easily take
in 50Watts of power. But since their acoustical
impedance is better matched to the acoustical
impedance of air, they are more efficient and can
produce sound several dBs lounder than a traditional
speaker with the same power capability.
2. How to use two ultrasounds to
create 3D sound from any point?
– Currently, the only technology developed is to use the
self-demodulation of a single ultrasound signal to
create a sound. This wave can be projected onto a
surface of the room and then a listener will perceive the
wave as originating from that point. The technology as
described cannot be used to created 3D sound from any
point in space. It can only be used to make sound
originate from any surface in a room.