SoundVu Turns Screens Into Speakers
Upcoming technology lets glass or plastic computer screens act as loudspeakers.
Stan Miastkowski, special to PC World
This week New Transducers Limited unveiled SoundVu, a technology that the company claims can turn the glass in computer monitors and the plastic in laptop and desktop LCD screens into loudspeakers.
But don't run down to your local computer store yet--the technology isn't expected to be widely available for about 18 months.
A New Twist on Transducer Technology
Company Director Jon Vizor admits that turning flat surfaces into speakers isn't really a new technology; it was first demonstrated more than 50 years ago. A transducer (actually an electromagnet) is placed on the rear of a panel of wood, plastic, or another material, just slightly off center for optimal sound.
New Transducers previously developed Surface Sound technology, which turns thin opaque surfaces into loudspeakers, and has licensed it to more than 90 companies.
SoundVu addresses the problem of turning a transparent surface like a computer monitor into a speaker with a proprietary technology that makes the edge of the screen itself into the transducer.
SoundVu, according to Vizor, turns a computer or television screen into a speaker with full dynamic and frequency range. The larger the screen, the louder the volume can be and the deeper the bass. Creating stereo sound is simply a matter of having two transducers incorporated into the screen.
Currently there's only one computer equipped with SoundVu, a Digital HiNote demonstration unit. New Transducers expects to spend at least the next year perfecting the technology for mass production. Vizor says it's too early to estimate how much SoundVu will add to the cost of future monitors or notebook computers.
