pauln Posted April 22, 2005 Share Posted April 22, 2005 http://www.popsci.com/popsci/bown/article/0,16106,388134,00.html http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/050421/hypersonic_sound.html This possibilities for misuse are huge. This may be worse than the atom. ------- Associated Press Inventor Creates Soundless Sound System Thursday April 21, 9:48 pm ET By Typh Tucker, Associated Press Writer Man Astounds Crowd in Oregon With His Soundless Sound Invention PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) -- Elwood "Woody" Norris pointed a metal frequency emitter at one of perhaps 30 people who had come to see his invention. The emitter -- an aluminum square -- was hooked up by a wire to a CD player. Norris switched on the CD player. ADVERTISEMENT "There's no speaker, but when I point this pad at you, you will hear the waterfall," said the 63-year-old Californian. And one by one, each person in the audience did, and smiled widely. Norris' HyperSonic Sound system has won him an award coveted by inventors -- the $500,000 annual Lemelson-MIT Prize. It works by sending a focused beam of sound above the range of human hearing. When it lands on you, it seems like sound is coming from inside your head. Norris said the uses for the technology could come in handy -- in cars, in the airport or at home. "Imagine your wife wants to watch television and you want to read a book, like the intellectual you are," he said to the crowd. "Imagine you are a lifeguard or a coach and you want to yell at someone, he'll be the only one to hear you." Norris holds 47 U.S. patents, including one for a digital handheld recorder and another for a handsfree headset. He said the digital recorder made him an inventor for life. "That sold for $5 million," Norris laughed. "That really made me want to be an inventor." He demonstrated the sound system at the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry, also called OMSI, on Thursday. Norris began tinkering as an inventor at a young age -- taking apart the family radio and putting it back together again. He said ideas come to him when he's driving around or talking with friends. "I don't know how I got to be an inventor, but I guess some kids can play the piano, and I can invent." Norris will receive the Lemelson-MIT Prize at a ceremony here on Friday. One of his most recent patents is for the AirScooter, a personal flying machine designed for commuting. It reaches speeds up to 55 mph and is light enough -- under 300 pounds -- to not require a license to fly. The AirScooter was also on display at OMSI, although Norris didn't fly it. The machine has a single seat, a four-stroke engine and is barely 10 feet tall. Its pontoons allow it to land on water. The machine's fiberglass and aluminum construction keeps its weight down. Bike-style handle bars move two helicopter blades, which spin in opposite directions. Norris' AirScooter was shown on "60 Minutes" last Sunday. He said since the airing of the show, more than 7 million people have visited the AirScooter's Web site. Norris said he and his crew have tested the AirScooter for four years, and he couldn't have created the machine without a skilled group of aeronautics engineers around him. ------- Woody Norris has a way of getting inside your head ... by David Sparrow Woody Norris has a way of getting inside your head. No, we don't mean his overpowering handshake or Barnumesque penchant for self-promotion ("This is the biggest thing in audio in 77 years"). We mean HyperSonic Sound, his latest creation. (A prolific inventor, Norris, 64, also won a Best of What's New for a personal flying machine.) Unlike traditional speakers, which scatter sound, Norris' device streams it in a precise, laser-like beam for up to 150 yards with almost no degradation in quality or volume. If that seems incredible, trust me, it is. When I met Norris in September he pointed the 7-inch-square emitter at me from 30 feet away. Suddenly I heard the sound of birds chirping. The noise didn't seem to emanate from his device; I felt like it was generated inside my noggin. Yet a guy just 2 feet away from me couldn't hear it. How does it work? The piezoelectric transducer emits sound at frequencies above the human ear's 20,000-cycle threshold. Unlike low-frequency waves, the high-frequency signals don't spread out as they travel through air. Yet they do interact with the air to induce a related set of ultrasonic waves. These waves combine with the original waves, interfering to create an audible signal, focused into a beam. The applications are numerous, if not apparent: Thousands of soda machines in Tokyo will soon bombard passersby with the enticing sound of a Coke being poured, and several U.S. supermarkets will promote products to shoppers as they walk down corresponding aisles. Eventually HyperSonic Sound might enable a nightclub to play disco on one side of the dance floor and salsa on the other. Ambulances equipped with hypersonic sirens could clear the streets without waking the neighbors. Norris' company, American Technology, sells the devices for $600. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
markus111 Posted April 22, 2005 Share Posted April 22, 2005 I wonder what the frequency response is. If it could do 20hz to 20k, you could have a personal 6 inch Klipschorn. Bet my wife would approve.... Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRBILL Posted April 22, 2005 Share Posted April 22, 2005 That guy has a rude awakening when he visits the patent office. It was done c. 1974-5. The inventor was in my office in Alexandria LA and explained it in great detail. There are actually two beams of ultrasonic waves --one constant, and one frequency modulated. The ear picks up the "resultant" heterodyne of the two frequencies. It had very limited frequency response and was used for paging in large spaces such as a stadium or auditorium. It could be aimed precisely. In a noisy situation, it could be missed. Wireless technology made it redundant. I feel sorry for him after going to all that trouble. DR BILL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrWho Posted April 22, 2005 Share Posted April 22, 2005 well perhaps he's doing something different that helps compensate for the flaws of the original design. I would think that would be patentable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sfogg Posted April 22, 2005 Share Posted April 22, 2005 "I would think that would be patentable." Maybe, except he is using a trademark from another earlier version of the same thing.... http://www.highbeam.com/library/doc0.asp?docid=1G1:18810543&refid=ink_tptd_np&skeyword=&teaser= Seems like this same thing keeps getting 'reinvented' every 10 years or so. Shawn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thumpelstiltskin Posted April 22, 2005 Share Posted April 22, 2005 Who cares about the speakers, we've all got speakers. I want an air scooter!!! It flies 55 mph and can land on water!!! No license required!! Too cool!!! Just imagine the possibilities........... Rick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nuclearay Posted April 22, 2005 Share Posted April 22, 2005 So THAT's where the voices in my head are coming from. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klipschaholik Posted April 22, 2005 Share Posted April 22, 2005 Bill, I was born a raised in Alexandria. Small world! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted April 22, 2005 Share Posted April 22, 2005 The japanese are putting these in vending machines you get ads beamed at you as you walk by. Scary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dragonfyr Posted April 22, 2005 Share Posted April 22, 2005 ---------------- On 4/22/2005 2:57:53 PM sfogg wrote: Seems like this same thing keeps getting 'reinvented' every 10 years or so. ---------------- Isn't that what they call "progress"? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DRBILL Posted April 22, 2005 Share Posted April 22, 2005 KLIPSCHOHOLIC, you have a PM. BILL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JJkizak Posted April 22, 2005 Share Posted April 22, 2005 My super klystron scanner speaker is really kool. You lay down and pass through the huge magnets and the huge diameter of the klystron tube. The results sometimes are not so good as your body is converted to a puff of smoke at peak power levels. But up to that point the sound is staggering. Sometimes if your bodies resonances are in the correct mode you will pass through without a scratch, but the blown ear drums are a problem. Some of these minor glitches are troublesome and some new models based on a K-horn bass bin supersized about 20 fold so walk in doors allow access. It didn't solve the blown eardrums though. JJK Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kevin97225 Posted April 22, 2005 Share Posted April 22, 2005 klipschaholik, wow - it is a small world! You don't find many people from Alexandria, Louisiana! I grew up there too, at the same time you did! Hmmm, wonder if I know you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klipschaholik Posted April 22, 2005 Share Posted April 22, 2005 Kevin, I dropped you an email. gk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators dtel Posted April 22, 2005 Moderators Share Posted April 22, 2005 Is think this is close to what Yamaha just came out with, YSP-1 . I had just read a review on it at Audioholics, it's on their main page, is this even close? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunnysal Posted April 23, 2005 Share Posted April 23, 2005 The yamaha speaker has NOTHING in common with the technology mentioned in this thread. It is simply a speaker array that via DSP processing tries to create the illusion of surround sound. many companies have been playing with this fro years, perhaps the most famous is SRS Labs whose space expander and bass booster can be found on most computers. the new technology mentioned uses ultra high frequency waves aimed at your head to create sound "inside" you head, there is no audible sound until the waves interact with your head...kind of like the ultimate headphones BUT this technology cannot really produce even mid-fidelity music, basically voice or other recognizable sounds without the need for wide frequency response. regards, tony Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
seti Posted April 23, 2005 Share Posted April 23, 2005 Perhaps all those people that claimed voices were in their head were not too crazy..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
timbley Posted April 24, 2005 Share Posted April 24, 2005 ---------------- On 4/22/2005 3:30:13 PM Thumpelstiltskin wrote: Who cares about the speakers, we've all got speakers. I want an air scooter!!! It flies 55 mph and can land on water!!! No license required!! Too cool!!! Rick. ---------------- It looks like a small helicopter with counter rotating blades. Small helicopters have been around for a while now. Counter rotating blades too. I don't see what's been invented here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DTLongo Posted April 24, 2005 Share Posted April 24, 2005 I've noodled around the Norris website and he's apparently quite a guy. As to "hypersonic sound," from what I've read it seems to be a neat, elegant idea but quite frequency-limited, nil bass. As for the AirScooter, it is tantalizing, especially that it's an ultralight apparently not needing a pilot's license. But noisy as hxll judging from their demo video - that little engine really buzzes. Still, rather remarkable. If it COULD be brought to market for the targted $50,000 assembled (not a kit), some several hundred probably could be sold and it would be quite an accomplishment. Heck, I'd be tempted myself to dip into old-age reserve $ to get one. But FAA regs would still apply and you could use it only at altitutde over rural areas and in nonrestricted airspace. No flying over D.C. or NYC or even low over your own urban or suburban backyard in that thing. Still, quite an accomplishment if the $50,000 price point can be realized. Hats off to Mr. N. Tom (a former licensed private pilot) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stan krajewski Posted April 24, 2005 Share Posted April 24, 2005 Remember the segway? IT. The total revolution in transportation. The be all and end all. The invention that will change the world and the way we live! Gently nudge me if I start snoring. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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