The acoustic surface developed by scientists is a flexible film on the surface of which are thousands of microscopic diffusers.
Scientists from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology < (MIT) has created a speaker system that is equal in thickness to a sheet of paper, according to the Voice of America, citing the MIT website. . The height of each of them does not exceed 15 microns (it is six times thinner than human hair). These diffusers are capable of reproducing sound that is comparable in volume and sound quality to a regular speaker.
The authors of the development published a video in which they demonstrated a small palm-sized speaker, the weight of which, in their words, “does not exceed the weight of a 10-cent coin.” As a test, the film recreated Queen's song We Are the Champions:
Engineers claim that sound quality does not depend on the surface to which the film is attached, and the production process allows you to scale it to any area and, therefore, turn any surface into a source of quality sound. Thus, the film (which can be produced in rolls) can completely cover the interior of the car or use it as sound wallpaper.
The creators of the speaker say that the device consumes only 100 ml of power per square centimeter of its area; by comparison, the average home speaker consumes more than 1 watt to produce sound of similar power.
MIT engineers also said that their design could have many more features than just sound reproduction. Since not all the film vibrates when creating sound, but each individual diffuser on it, the technology could be used for ultrasonic imaging, ie to create images. According to scientists, the device can use ultrasound to determine the position of a person in the room and “follow” him while moving. and several Ukrainian universities:
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